Phoenix Fire
by Wolf Heart 13
Summary: Ben10AF Season 1 & 2; an old friend of Ben and Gwen's joins the team to lend a hand with their fight against the DNAliens. Full summary inside. Mostly KxG. Warning: contains fluff. Rated T for themes and language. COMPLETE!
1. Meeting Stephenie

**AN: This is an idea I have been sitting on literally for months. So i decided to actually write something down, and post it. One day when I'm older and wiser (hahahahahaha! like to see that day xD ) I want to write books, and this is my practise run for my best seller (again, hahaha!). That's what practise if for! ;)**

**So yeah, this is basically a little intro with an OC of mine called Stephenie Smith who's British and blonde (like me lol) and knows the Tennyson's. All will be revealed soon! I'll try to explain as well as I can… so, tell me what you think of my writing skills (good, bad, could be better, LAME, awesome, GOD THIS SUCKS! I don't mind as long as it's constructive and helpful to me to improve my writing skills)**

**This is set right at the beginning of Alien Force, but after the first episode.**

**Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: if I owned any of this stuff I'd be rich! But I'm not (cries) so nope; I own nothing except the stuff that doesn't actually occur in the episodes and therefore I made them up and they belong to me. (If my brain hasn't fried yet….) And I don't own 'M & S' either. Again, oh so sadly…**

Meeting Stephenie

"So, what you're saying is…what, exactly?" Kevin asked, running a cloth over the hood of his car.

They were in a garage on the outskirts of town, and Ben was trying to persuade Kevin to agree to something, and he was being very vague about the details. "She's a friend of the family, and she has her own powers, I'm just saying maybe we could let her join the team?"

"Why?" Kevin asked again. He swore Ben had it out for him.

"Cause she's moving here with her family. We've known her for years,"

"So, why are you asking me?" Kevin questioned.

"Gwen thought it would be a good idea," Ben shrugged.

Kevin frowned at Ben and folded his arms across his chest. "You're being really vague. Get to the point." He snapped.

Ben sighed, shaking his head. "Steph's been a friend of the family for years. She's part Transmorphic."

That caught Kevin's interest; certain humanoid alien races had followed a slightly different evolutionary path to theirs, and with it came the ability to change into different beings. There were three main species of Transmorphors; the Lupus who lived in packs and roamed the forests and grasslands of their home world; the Avis, who were divided into clans according to their markings; and the Equus, who lived as one large, if widely spread herd. Each sub-species was known as a 'tribe', and they turned out a large number of Plumbers so they were found mostly everywhere in the galaxy.

"Which Tribe?" Kevin asked, feigning disinterest.

"Avis." He replied. "So you'll come and at least _meet_ her?"

Whatever Kevin did, Ben wouldn't shut up until he complied, so he might as well get it over and done with.

"_Fine_."

---

The three of them were walking from Gwen's house to a street not too far away. Kevin couldn't understand why the other two were so excited; Gwen seemed overly happy to just be seeing this friend of theirs again. Ben seemed to be trying to rub it in, if only just a little bit.

He just hung behind and tried to not look conspicuous.

When they reached the house on the road with the big removal van outside, they saw the full scope of the chaos. There were two girls, who must have been twins, running circles around a younger boy, shrieking with laughter. They were all dark haired, and from afar, appeared deeply tanned. A ginger haired boy who looked to be about their age was trying to keep them all on the lawn, but they seemed to have other ideas.

Kevin didn't pay much attention until Gwen called, "Steph!"

Someone stuck their head around the side of the moving van, and looked up and down the sidewalk until they saw the three walking towards them. It was a girl, possibly about Kevin's age, and she had strange hair. She grinned widely at them, jumped down from the van, and ran over to them.

Her hair was golden blonde, and feathered around her face and down her back; it was long, much longer than Gwen's, below her waist in fact, and the last two inches of hair in their various layers was a vivid, flame coloured red. She was really skinny, hardly any meat on her at all, but she gave the impression of a tough fighter; she appeared as scrawny as chicken, and looked as though she fought like a cockerel. Her skin was sun darkened, like the three children on the lawn, but the most glaringly obvious feature of her was her eyes. They were like two sapphires, brighter than the sky overhead.

"Ben, Gwen!" she cried, pulling them both into a huge hug. "I would've called earlier but my phone died. It's awesome to see you again!"

Gwen laughed. "We missed you Steph!"

Steph held them both out at arms length – quite a distance, considering her abnormally long limbs – and grinned. "You grewed up!" she measured Ben's height with her hand. "Catching me up!"

"Not quite," Ben smiled back.

"Nah, don't suppose so." Her accent was English, but not one Kevin was familiar with. His idea of the British accent was 'The Queen's English' which she obviously didn't speak. "Still, you've got a few years to grow." She hugged Gwen again. "Your hair's even longer! I can't believe it!"

"Not as long as yours!"

"Meh," Steph waved it away vaguely with her hand. "Grew about six inches in two weeks around Christmas. Couldn't believe it." She turned her gaze to Kevin, who tried to shift away, feeling awkward again. "Sorry, don't believe we've met." She wasn't rude, but she didn't sound overly polite either; merely blunt.

"Kevin, this is Stephenie. Steph, this is our friend Kevin." Gwen introduced them.

Steph took a step forward and held out a hand to him. "Pleased to meet you," she smiled widely. Apparently her smile and her grin were too close to be distinguished with ease.

She was wearing a pair of black fingerless gloves, even in the heat of the day, but then again, she was moving boxes around. She also wore jeans that hung from her hips and mostly covered the faded beige boots she sported. She wore a grey tank top, and a golden chain around her neck, from which hung a stylised locket in the shape of a bird surrounded by flame-like tendrils of metal.

Steph's handshake was firm, but not so much so to make Kevin wince, although her hand felt warmer than the normal healthy ninety-eight-point-six degrees Fahrenheit. He nodded, and she smiled back. "Levin?" she asked rather bluntly.

"That's me,"

"Oh, you're _that_ Kevin. See, it's a common name over in England, I mean, my little brother's called Kevin," she pointed at said boy who was running around on the grass, shrieking with laughter. "And I know loads of people with the same name, and Gwen confused me with her email." She shot an accusatory glare at her friend.

"What?!" Gwen burst out, startling both Kevin and Ben.

Kevin didn't miss the sudden rush of blood to her cheeks. He was sure his cheeks were heating up too…

"Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist," Steph drawled, waving her hand in a vague gesture. "Hell, there were about five Kevin's in my GSCE year. _Three _of them were in my science set! And they all had surnames that started with 'M', calling the register was just _insane_, never knew which one was which…and I think two of them were related or something…" she raised an eyebrow at Gwen. "You just confused me is all."

"Wow, that's hard to do," Ben laughed.

"Huh?" Kevin didn't understand.

Ben pointed at Steph with his thumb, saying, "She has a brain the size of a planet."

"Quit it with the Hitch Hiker's references!" Steph snapped. "It seriously pisses me off when people do it all bloody day long."

_Great!_ Kevin thought to himself. _Someone who swears too!_

"Whatever," Ben shrugged. "She's got a…what was it called again?"

"Photographic memory." Steph sighed, folding her arms over her chest, and rolling her eyes skywards. "My brain works in a logical and – mostly – orderly way. I have exceptional eye sight, colour perception one in fact, and stick me in a warehouse full of paint cans and tell me to pick out a colour scheme for a room I fail in a most epic fashion." She tapped her forehead, head bent forward slightly so she had to look up at Kevin. "I have no colour sense. I perceive the colours of the spectrum better than most people in the world, and yet I can do nothing with it. Life's a bitch, ain't it?"

Kevin laughed. "Sure is."

"Steph?" someone called from the house.

She swayed her hips to one side and flexed her arms above her head. "Over here, Mel!" she proceeded to yawn, widely. "Been on the go since three this morning. I'm gonna keel over and die if the others don't get here soon."

"Where are they? _How_ are they?" Gwen asked as Steph started back towards the house.

"Follow me, we have some juice and biscuits somewhere around here… yeah, they're all good. Dylan's...Dylan. Taking a gap year. _Again_. Tom's finished his course, he's coming over in a week's time. The twins…well, you can see for yourself," she pointed at the two dark-haired girls chasing the boy around the front garden.

Kevin followed after Ben, keeping his distance from the people on the lawn. Close to, the ginger haired boy was actually much older than he had first thought; he was just extraordinarily petite…if a guy could be petite. He was small, but well proportioned. Slight was probably the best word to describe him.

Still, Kevin didn't feel like he belonged. Why had he let the Tennyson cousins bully him into this?

"Hi Mel!" Gwen laughed again, being attacked by another blonde.

"Kevin," Steph turned to him, gesturing at the woman hugging Gwen, squealing with laughter. "This is my big sis Mel. Over there's my lil'brother Kev, the twin's Erin and Ella, and my step brother Dylan," the guy waved, looking flustered. "Kev, calm down!" Steph called to him. The boy skidded to a halt, and promptly got knocked over by one of the twins who hadn't seen him stop.

"Ben, I don't see you for years on end, and I don't get a hug! I feel slanted,"

The woman pulled him into a hug, which he returned, grinning. She was different to Steph, yet you could tell straight away they were related.

Mel's hair was strawberry blonde, and she was at least a head shorter than Gwen. She was petite, with soft, round features, and definitely no bright red hair, and generally more fleshed out, and extremely pretty. Steph was much sharper in her appearance, with high cheekbones, angular nose, a long neck, and her all-but-bony, long limbed figure. The only thing that they had in common were the same, bright sapphire eyes, yet you could tell instantly that they were sisters.

"Kevin, Mel. Mel, Kevin." Gwen yet again conducted the introductions.

"Pleased to meet you," Mel said warmly, shaking his hand. Her hands were soft and smooth, with carefully manicured nails.

Kevin remembered Steph's hands, which, even through the fabric of her gloves, felt coarse, and also the neat but short nails. They were probably at opposite ends of the spectrum, but they seemed to gel together well.

"Please come in, and excuse the mess." She went through the front door and waved them in behind her.

"After you," Steph said as Kevin approached. Her eyes were narrowed at something just above his shoulder. "Kevin Smith-Tanner, get over here, _now_!" she shouted, barging past Kevin. "Sorry," she said hastily, running towards the chocolate haired boy playing with some tools on the sidewalk.

Kevin followed Ben inside, straight ahead down a wide hallway into a kitchen at the back, passing a large open planned living room, a small and pokey dinning room, and a set of dark wooden stairs. Boxes were piled everywhere.

"We haven't finished unpacking yet," Mel was telling Gwen as Kevin entered the bright and cheery tiled room. "But we have some food…somewhere…" Steph stomped through the door, escorting her younger brother. "Oh dear. What happened?" Mel asked anxiously.

"You never listen, do you? Now look!"

The boy's hand was wrapped up in a dark coloured shirt, and his eyes were filled with tears. Steph picked him up and dumped him on the counter by the sink. "There's a first aid kit in the front room," Mel told her, inspecting Kev's hand. Steph ducked through the door, and was back very quickly with a white and red box. "You're a brave boy, Kev. Not even a squeak!" He proceeded to sniff quietly, and she hugged him.

"Now you know why you don't play with daddy's tools?" Steph asked, setting to work on the nasty looking cut on his hand. "Sorry guys," she added over her shoulder. "I'll have him fixed up in no time." Once his hand was clean and bandaged Steph shooed him from the kitchen, yelling to Dylan, "Move the tool box before he cuts his arm off!"

Mel managed to find an assortment of glasses that didn't match at all, and a plate with some biscuits. In the end, Gwen was drinking from a tea mug with a russet elephant painted on it; Kevin had a plain see through pint glass; Ben drank from a black and green plastic cup (what a coincidence that was, Kevin thought dryly); and Steph had a red Hanna Montana glass.

"I know what you're thinking," she said, pointing at him. "And it's my little sister's, before you get any ideas. But I like Disney anyway."

Kevin smirked. "Didn't cross my mind."

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Sure you didn't, sure you didn't. Hey, Mel, where the hell's Gerald? And mother dear?"

That mildly caught Kevin's interest. Apparently she had a stepfather, as apposed to father. Just like him.

"Food shopping. Tell you what, if you get your boxes upstairs I'll let you off the hook," Mel said, stacking plates into a cupboard.

"You don't need a hand?" Steph asked, refilling her cup.

"Well, if Gwen and the boys don't mind helping out…?" Mel asked.

She had her back to the others, and Steph started waving her arms and mouthing, _"Run away! Don't get dragged in!"_

"Sure, we'd be happy to help," Gwen put in.

Steph went silent, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at her friend reproachfully. "I warned you," she said menacingly.

"C'mon," Ben reached up to pat her shoulder, "it's only moving boxes, how bad can it be?"

"Fine," she drained the rest of her drink in one gulp. "You can carry the twins bunk bed!" she took Gwen by the arm and cheerfully bounded out of the room.

"She missed you." Mel said, sorting through soup bowls.

"I guessed." He shrugged. "I was expecting to get punched because I haven't emailed her in ages."

"She hasn't been anywhere near a computer for two months." Mel assured him. "Even if you did email her she wouldn't have known about it."

"Hey, you're supposed to be _helping_!" Steph stuck her head through the door.

"I'll make a deal with you," Mel said, turning to face her sister. "You get our boxes into the attic room and you guys can go do something else for the day."

"Really?" Steph's already bright expression glowed even more. "What would I do without you?" she ran forward, hugged her sister, then grabbed Ben and Kevin by the elbow and proceeded to the front door of the house. "If it's just our boxes it won't take too long," she grinned.

Outside Kevin was properly introduced to Dylan, who directed them to a collection of boxes with 'M&S' scrawled over them. Dylan started laughing as Steph grabbed the first one and carried it with ease to the front door. "Very funny Dyl," she snarled.

Ben looked as confused as Kevin felt. Dylan took pity on them, and explained, "There's a shopping chain in England called Mark's and Spencer's, and we have are very own Mel and Steph…sort of a family joke." His accent was American, so Kevin guessed that Steph's mother was English and her stepfather American.

The boxes were heavy, despite Steph's apparent ease with carrying them. She had to help them with the larger ones, and Gwen used her powers to take several smaller ones at a time. As Kevin came back for the forth round, he heard Ben and Steph talking, so he slid round the corner of the moving truck to listen.

"Dammit…" Steph snarled. "Why does the easy-to-carry crap always end up _at the back_?"

"So…" Ben said after a few crashes and more curses. "What do you think of Kevin?"

Kevin froze in place. What the hell, Tennyson?!

"What d'ya mean?" Steph asked, kicking something so the whole truck shook. "Aw, come off it people!" the weight shifted slightly as Ben climbed in. "This'll take too long to repack and, lets just take it as it is," there was a pause. "You didn't answer my question." She said bluntly.

"Just wondering," Ben said casually.

"Ben, I just got here, how the hell can I say what I think of someone I don't know anything about and met just five minutes ago?"

"It was more then five…"

"Okay. Fine. Fifteen. Happy? Now help me move this," the sound of fabric being stretched and rustled followed. "So what do _you_ think of him, since you value my opinion so much?"

"I don't know, Gwen thinks he's changed…" Ben sounded dubious.

Kevin didn't know why, but hearing it from the mouth of someone he was supposed to be working with kinda hurt.

"Changed? What do you…" the silence was saturated with comprehension. "Wait a sec, Kevin Levin? As in Kevin _Eleven?_"

So she'd heard of him before. Great…

"Yes."

"Wow." Another pause, then, "He was a lot scrawnier as a kid," she said conversationally.

"Trust you to take everything in stride," Ben grumbled.

"Hey, I only hold grudges against people who I know well enough to either like or dislike, which I don't know Kevin well enough to do, so I'm not entirely bothered. Oh, come off it, Ben! I heard he went to the Null Void. If I committed an offence and went there and came back alive, I wouldn't re-offend in a hurry."

Ben grumbled something too low for Kevin to catch, and Steph sighed in exasperation.

"You're not the same person you were five years ago, Ben. I mean, back then I would have given anything to push you off a cliff half the time. And I bet you felt the same way about me. But now I can bear to be in the same room for more than half an hour without getting pissed off." There was a fuming silence, then they both started laughing. "You're different, so's Gwen. And I am too. People don't stay the same Ben, I'm sure Kevin's more mature now."

"Hmm…"

There came a sound that sounded like a punch landing in someone's gut and Steph yelped. Footsteps on the metal floor then Ben jumped out of the truck and ran away laughing.

"Bitch! I'm so throwing you in the lake for this!" Steph ran after him.

"It would be nice if they grew up, but that's just too much to ask for." Kevin jumped about a foot in the air when Gwen spoke.

She smiled as Kevin straightened himself out. He felt very self-conscious around her for no readily apparent reason. "They've always been like that. You get used to it after a while."

"Sure," Kevin mentally cursed himself for his one word answer. That sounded so lame! But it was too late to do much but fume at himself.

Gwen climbed up the ramp and into the moving van to pick up what Steph and Ben had dropped. Kevin went to the side to help her, and was met with a face full of something large and white and soft.

---

Gwen had been watching him eavesdrop on Steph and Ben. She was irritated with Ben for constantly dragging Kevin's past back up. Ben didn't normally hold grudges for _that_ long. Steph _had_ tried to push him off a cliff before, but he didn't hold it against her…mainly because he got his own back by dangling her in a well when they were twelve, but that was neither here nor there.

Now they were off killing each other. She'd give it ten minutes, twenty tops, and they'd be back acting like they hadn't just been at each other's throats. Kevin at least had the grace to look ashamed for being caught, and while the other two weren't there, they might as well get some more boxes moved.

When she picked up the abandoned duvet from the van floor and turned to leave, she missed judged the distance and stepped into thin air. She didn't create a platform beneath her because she wasn't expecting the ground to rush up to her quite _that_ quickly. She hit something that wasn't the ground, and it grunted.

_Crap, I think I fell on Kevin…_

She sat up quickly and pulled the duvet off the ground. Kevin's obsidian eyes met her gaze, and then his face flushed. "Sorry," he muttered, standing up and retreating several steps.

Footsteps heralded the other's arrival. They were jogging down the sidewalk towards the house, laughing.

"Keep dreaming, Steph…" Ben teased.

"If I had a cliff handy you'd be singing a different tune!" she laughed, punching him on the shoulder.

"Whatever…"

Steph interlocked her fingers together and pressed them against the crown of Ben's head, jumping into the air and pretending to volt over his shoulder. "Aww, it's tough being a midget, isn't it?"

Ben swung a fist at her, which she caught with ease.

"Uh-uh! I don't think so," she said playfully.

"If you guys want to go anywhere at this rate," Mel said in a warning tone from the front door.

"On it!" they both said, jumping up into the van.

"Hey Gwen, did you have a fight with the bedding or something? And where'd Kevin go? Shirking duties?"

"Probably…" Ben sulked.

Steph raised an eyebrow. "Can't say I blame him, its boring enough on its own. Listening to _you_ for five minutes rots my brain…"

Gwen laughed, gathering the duvet in her arms as Ben shoved Steph out of the van, muttering darkly to himself. Reaching the pathway, Gwen nearly dropped the duvet again when Kevin appeared out of thin air. How did he do that? Seriously, it was kinda creepy…

"Need a hand?" he asked, not meeting her eye.

"Sure…" a slow smile stretched itself across her lips.

"Let's go Ben! _Today_. While we're still young!" Steph called, over taking them with several boxes balanced in her arms. "These boxes won't move themselves, you know!"

---

**SO…..what do you think??? I have the bare bones of a few more chapters (or oneshots to be more specific…) in the works. Got any advice/tips on my writing skills??? Got any praise/complaints??? Leave a review or drop me a PM, **


	2. Getting To Know You

**AN: hello again :P hmm, I seem to have 32 hits and 1 review, this doesn't seem to add up.... if you have the time at all, please do review; I welcome your input, even if it's negative. I'm here to improve my writing skills, so if my story really was that bad then do let me know why/how I can improve. I'm not fishing for compliments here, I'm fishing for constructive criticism, so let me know what you think (if you tell me 'this is crap' and do not tell me WHY it is crap, you shall be given a stern ignoring. Okay? Okay! :P )**

**Thank you, ledah13 ! glad to hear you enjoyed the first chapter ;) hopefully I didn't waffle too much**

**Also, a quick note; I personally have nothing against Bwen or Bevin, I just prefer Gwevin and Benlie, so expect that to crop up in later chapters. Steph is...Steph. She's sort of like the older sister the gang never had (I myself have an older brother, oh joy.........no sisters to speak of :'( ). I also prefer KevinxGwen so ^-^ expect that to surface later on.**

**Okay, I've rambled enough, Enjoy!!!**

_**Getting to know you**_

Initially Kevin hadn't tried to make friends with Steph, purely on the grounds that Kevin wasn't an overly social person. But he found underneath the immediate blunt and brusqueness of her personality she was kind hearted and patient. Outspoken, to say the very, _very_ least, and quick to irritate yet slow to anger. Gwen had warned Kevin to not cross her, not because she was a close friend of hers and Ben's, but because she had seen Steph get angry and lose her control completely once before. It was a rather scary experience, which even Ben wouldn't push her to again.

Two weeks after Steph's family had settled in, she had decided to confront him about it, which surprised Kevin. She walked into his garage unannounced and nudged his foot with hers while he was underneath his car.

"We need to talk." She said bluntly.

"About?" he demanded, sitting up straight.

Steph sank gracefully into a cross-legged position on the floor in front of him. "Listen, Ben's been saying – yeah, I knew that would be your reaction," she grimaced, as did he, "but I've heard the argument from both sides and I've come to _my_ decision and if he gives you any grief tell him I'll throw him over a cliff…or face down a well, whichever happens to be closest. Anyway, yeah, you're Kevin Levin and yeah you have a record and no I actually don't give a shit." Her frank and open expression left him with no doubt that she was being honest. "The way I see it, you haven't tried to gut me like a fish, and Gwen seems pretty convinced you're reformed, and to be honest with you I'd trust her judgement more than Ben's."

Kevin frowned at her. "Why? You barely know me."

"Well, I'd say Ben doesn't either." She pointed out. "And Gwen's a girl. They're better at these things in general. I'm not really good at making my own judgements about people I don't know, so I rely on what other people can tell me. Ben's biast so I ignored him," she waved her hand vaguely in front of her. "Gwen's a bit more sensitive when it comes to people, and so's my sister. Gwen's convinced, and Mel said, and I quote this, her words not mine!" she used her fingers to emphasise quotation marks in the air, "'I think he has suffered and learned from the past and I don't see any malice in him.' By the way, she's a Wiccan. Oh, sorry! Wiccan _in training_. Apparently there's a huge difference considering they all keep learning new stuff all the time…anyways, I'm rambling. My point is that I'm not gonna stick a knife in your back unless I see you being evil and mean and nasty from now on. Which I seriously doubt. Remember, Ben, cliff, I throw." She tapped her forehead knowingly. "Or well." She smiled. "So, friends?"

She offered her gloved hand.

Kevin returned her glance levelly. "Sure," he reached out and shook her hand. "Why do you wear those anyway?" He didn't know much about the Transmorphors, and he was intensely curious about them. He'd always been curious about the wider universe.

"Here," Steph pulled the glove from her left hand and pressed her palm against his forehead. Her skin was rough and calloused, just like his, probably from some sort of manual work, but that's not what struck him. His attention was taken up mostly by the temperature; her hand was overly warm, way too warm to be considered comfortable.

"Hey!" he jerked back from the contact. "Are you sick or something? That can't be healthy!"

Steph grinned, pulling her glove back on. "I'm part Avis. Apparently from the Phoenix Clan. At least, that's what my sister told me. My mum's human, my dad was whole or part alien. Mel didn't gain anything from his side of the family, except the eyes. My mum's grandmother was a Wiccan, so she's inherited that; I'm sort of a mix."

"Doesn't your mom know anything else?" Kevin asked before he stopped to think.

The expression on her face was one too difficult to read; emotions conflicted in her eyes, though the muscles in her face stayed motionless. Finally, a melancholy light entered her them and she sighed, looking at the wall to her right.

"She does. But she doesn't like talking about it. Mel's eight years older than me, so she remembers more, even if she didn't really understand at the time. My dad was a Plumber, and he had to go fight in this war on some far away planet, and he promised he'd come home…he was reported missing in action three months after he left. No one ever heard from him after that, so I assume he's either working undercover for something top secret, or he's dead." She remained calm and collected as she spoke, but there was a sort of heaviness carried by her words.

"Hmm." Was Kevin's ingenious reply.

"It's fine, really. I…I don't remember him really, just a couple of old photos and what Mel's told me. My mum…never really got over loosing him. But," she brightened up as she continued, "she has Gerald. He's good for her, helped her get back on her feet, and she did likewise. His ex-wife's a real bitch, Tom and Dylan don't like her much, at all…it's kinda sad really. Still, we get along most of the time. Life's all good until Dylan opens his mouth." Her nose wrinkled slightly as she laughed. "Gerald always made the distinction between stepfather and father. He knows I won't accept him as my father, but as a parental authority…if that makes any sense…"

"So, what you're saying is you'll let him be head of your family but you won't let him take your father's place?" Kevin straightened out her meaning for her.

"Yeah, that's right." She smiled. "Mel misses my dad too; I would if I could remember anything. All I know is he was from a family in the Phoenix Clan, which is the biggest Avis Clan, so even if I did try to find the rest of my family, I wouldn't know where to start. Guess I'm content right here on earth." She lifted the locket from around her neck. "This is the one thing I have of his." She snapped it open and showed Kevin the photo inside. A long limbed, extremely thin man with sharp, angular features and hazel brown hair streaked with red was sitting in a rocking chair, holding an eight year old girl with curly blonde hair, who was in turn holding a baby with a mop of gold and red hair. "Mel kept his old Plumbers badge…it's busted though." She replaced the locket around her neck. "So that's my life story," she concluded with a nod.

Kevin looked down at the space between them, brooding.

"Something up?" she guessed.

"Yeah…listen, I'm appreciate you being open with me, but I don't wanna talk about it…" the topic of his father at home was a raw one. He wasn't prepared to reveal anything to anyone, not yet at least.

"Okay," Steph shrugged.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "You're that easy to persuade?"

"Not really," she said, shaking her head. "I mean, I told you because I'm happy with it, I don't mind other people knowing because it doesn't bother me. If it did, then I wouldn't want people prying at me about it. I can see you're not comfortable with talking about certain things, so I'm not gonna force you into anything. You know, 'Treat others the way you wish to be treated' the Golden Rule of the New Testament or something…"

Kevin laughed, feeling the tension leave his shoulders. "I never paid attention in Religious Studies."

"Well, neither did I." Steph said brightly. "I read the text book the night before the exam and got full marks for it. Everyone hated me." She sounded cheered by the thought. "And my friend and I used to doodle and gossip in lessons all the time and we still got great marks. Well, she got B's and A's and a C, but hey…we didn't fail anything!"

"I guess you were unpopular on result days." Kevin smirked.

"Oh yeah, they hated my guts then, but before the exams they'd be all 'Oh Steph please help me revise!' and I'd be like 'Party time!'" she pumped her fist into the air. "I was always the youngest by several years…I took my GCSEs something like 4 years early. Most of the people I was in school with are at Uni now. You know what? It's great to hang out with people _my own age_ for once."

After that, Kevin began to like Steph. She was accepting of all things great and small, beautiful and ugly, useful and lame. And she was a mechanic too, as it turned out. Not long after she'd explained about her family, she'd walked into the workroom and kicked his foot to gain his attention. Apparently this was her form of friendly affection, and the grin she wore when he deigned to notice her presence was a tell tale sign.

"Hey, Gwen says you're Mr. Mechanic. Don't suppose you could spare a moment of your time to help me would you?"

"What?" Kevin demanded.

Steph dropped a cylinder into his lap. "What the hell's this, what the hell's wrong with it, and how the hell can I fix it?"

Kevin inspected the cylinder closely. Hey, wasn't Steph supposed to be one of the good guys? This was Level 4 Alien Tech! "Where'd you get this?" he demanded.

She shrugged. "Dylan found it in a shop at the shopping centre, but he had to go out of town for some obscure and unrelated reason, so Tom gave it to me. He had no idea what it's for, just said that Dyl though I could use it to fix Gerald's car."

"This is Alien Tech."

"Oh." She frowned. "In an Earth mall. Interesting."

"Level 4."

"That ain't good, is it?"

"If it fell into the wrong hands…" Kevin said, standing up and walking across the room to a box where he dumped it.

Steph coughed loudly. Kevin glared at her. "Sorry, just…I heard about that deal with the Forever Knights…and your comment just now made me laugh." She smiled innocently at him, and he snarled in response. "I know I can be a bitch, and I'm sorry," she said sincerely, spreading her hands out in apology.

"Just go…" he grumbled.

"Okay, fine," she didn't sound at all fazed. "See you tomorrow then," and she walked out the door.

---

Ben glared at Steph, and she glared back. They had been there for nearly ten minutes, staring each other down, and the silence was killing Kevin.

It was the most stupid thing ever; Ben wanted her to try out a Smoothie he thought she'd like, and Steph had asked Kevin for a second opinion. He advised against it, and Ben had started arguing; Steph vehemently refused and gave her friend the silent treatment. Ben taunted her about being a chicken, and she started the staring war. So for ten minutes Steph had been sitting on the hood of Kevin's car, arms folded across her chest, shoulders set defiantly, eyes blazing like icy fire, and Ben stood over her, holding a Smoothie in one hand, trying and failing to make her surrender.

No one gave them a second thought in the Mr. Smoothie parking lot, which was probably a good thing. Gwen sat beside Kevin, book in hand, sipping a soda, ignoring the others around her.

It would have been hilarious (Ben getting it handed to him by a _girl_!) if it didn't stir up old feelings he'd thought he'd managed to bury forever. The angry glares…stony silence…just like his life before he'd finally taken to the streets. Yes, he was cold and argumentative, and probably a bad influence, but he couldn't stand this.

He could feel the pressure building up, the tension only he seemed to feel. Ben opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came. Steph narrowed her eyes.

Okay, that's it. Kevin couldn't take it any more.

He stood up and strode away before anyone could say or do anything.

"Kevin?"

He was surprised to hear Gwen's voice raised in anxiety. What did she care, anyway? He was a moody teenaged ex-con, someone she shouldn't be associating herself with. She was academic and had a bright future ahead of her; he skipped school often and got into trouble with the law: local, national, international, and intergalactic alike.

He headed to the park; the evening was drawing in so it should be quiet. He could think more easily.

Kevin sat down at the first free bench he came across, next to a pond with a small man made stream trickling into it. He put his hands behind his head, and his head between his knees, trying to get a hold on his emotions. Memories rose unbidden in his minds eye; closing his eyes didn't help.

…_His stepfather shouting at him through a locked door…_

…_His mother sighing heavily as she cleared away the latest light bulb he'd exploded…_

…_The stony silence as his two legal guardians glared at each other, refusing to back down from their side of the argument…_

Something soft pressed against his shoulder.

"Kevin?"

He sat up so quickly he pulled something in his neck, and hastily stifled a curse, shrugging her hand off. "What do you want?" he asked rudely.

Gwen didn't respond to his question, instead she replaced her hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" she asked gently.

"I-" He stopped.

What would she care, anyway? It's not like she'd understand his past…she couldn't relate to him; she'd grown up with both her parents in her life, where she was wanted and loved and not forced onto the streets where you had to fight to survive. She'd never understand him.

Yet…what was it Steph had said? Girls were more sensitive and more likely to understand or something…then gave him permission to threaten Ben with a cliff. Would she care…?

"It's…complicated…" he sighed, rubbing his temples. He could feel a headache coming on…

"I don't really understand, but I bet it has something to do with Ben and Steph's argument…?" She hit the nail on the head.

Kevin hunched his shoulders in a feeble attempt to shield himself. "Yeah." He admitted finally. She said nothing, and it was quiet. The birds chirped in the trees, and the water trickled into the pond.

Her presence was like a balm on his distress, and he was feeling better already. He felt a sudden urge to tell her, tell her everything. Everything about his life, to make her understand why he was the way he is. Maybe gain some sympathy instead of disapproval.

"It's just that," he blurted out before considering what to say.

He glanced at Gwen, who looked back with concerned eyes. _Whoa…_His thoughts were scattered like sheep in a field. _Her eyes weren't _that_ bright, were they?_

He only had a few vague memories of her from when they were younger, and he had never really noticed her eyes enough except to know that they were a _green_ colour.

They were clear…and deep…like emeralds…and bright…and wonderful…and he was starting to sound like a poet.

Nothing good could come of this; Kevin Levin, the poet. That was just…it sounded so wrong.

"I…" he shook his head, trying to clear his mind and collect his thoughts. "I can't stand arguments like that…it…brings back a lot of bad memories."

"Oh," her gaze slipped from his, her expression sympathetic. It took a moment for her to look up again, as though she were steeling herself to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." He said heavily, looking at the gravel beneath his feet.

Her hand remained on his shoulder, and he didn't shrug it away. As much as he hated to admit it, he liked the thought that she was there with him because she cared. Although, it was probably only because she felt sorry for how messed up his life was. Still, it was a nice feeling that she might be there because she liked him enough to be concerned.

"Kevin," she began.

He didn't look up.

"Listen, I can see it's hard for you, but Ben and Steph didn't know they were upsetting you-"

"I'm _not_ upset!" he rounded on her.

Gwen leaned back slightly, her face void of any emotion.

"I…I'm sorry…" Kevin was appalled with himself. Why the hell was he taking it out on Gwen? …Why the hell did he care so much, anyway?

"It's okay, I understand."

"Sorry Gwen," his heart did something strange as he said her name out loud, "but you don't."

He looked up in time to see a pained expression on her face before she smoothed it into an unreadable mask. _Maybe…she really _does _care…_ Kevin wished it was true, but couldn't see how it ever could be…

"Kevin…" his heart seemed to skip a beat at the sound of his name. "If you ever need someone to talk to…" she lifted her hand hesitantly, then laid her warm fingers delicately against his cheek. "I'm here." She finished, her hand retreating.

He raised his own hand and took hers on impulse. His mind caught up with his body a few seconds later, and he stared at their hands. She was so small and delicate compared to him, so distinctly breakable…the thought of her fighting anyone was a deeply upsetting one.

He looked her full in the face, and saw an unfathomable expression of compassion there. The corner's of her mouth turned up, and then he realised he was smiling at her too. Gwen's hand felt soft and warm in his, and it felt…so _right_, like it was made to fit in his, or his was made to fit around hers.

"Thank you." He said, meaning every syllable.

She didn't say anything, she didn't need to; just being there made all the difference. Kevin reluctantly let her hand go, knowing they'd have to go back before it got dark. As Gwen stood he followed suit, and trailed after her back to the car. His hand felt like it was itching, it was only a few inches away from hers, and he had the sudden overpowering urge to hold it. She must be part alien and using her powers to subtly seduce him…

Even in his head it sounded stupid.

Okay, okay. He liked Gwendolyn Tennyson more than was good for either of them. But, as she turned to look at him, smiling a breathtaking smile, he felt his heart skip again and decided that, for now, he'd ignore the possible consequences.

He wasn't good for her; he was an ex-con, served time in the null void, an underground tech dealer who bunked off school all too frequently. Gwen was a straight A student with a secure and happy life ahead of her.

She'd find a steady guy with a steady income and settle down and have a family and live happily ever after. She'd be safe, content, and in control of her life.

What could he offer her?

Nothing.

People wanted him dead; he'd put her in danger, Ben would kill him, and he'd ruin her chances of a life that was in any way remotely normal (not that it was normal now). She was too good for that, she deserved better than the likes of him.

As they entered the parking lot, Kevin's heart felt ten times heavier than before. He was surprised to find Ben and Steph watching for them anxiously, then the look of relief on both their faces when they spotted them. Ben was probably concerned only for is cousin, but he guessed Steph was worried about him too.

"Where you been at?" she demanded once they were within earshot. She put on a good show of being angry, but the subtle tightness around her eyes, the corners of her mouth, and the slight crease in the centre of her forehead gave away her true feelings.

"No where," Kevin shrugged casually.

Ben narrowed his eyes at him as he walked past. "You okay?" he asked Gwen in a low but carrying voice.

Steph punched his shoulder quite hard, looking even angrier than before.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Ben turned on her.

"God…!" Steph said, frowning. "Could you be any more insensitive?!" she hissed in a barely audible voice.

"Ben, I'm fine." Gwen murmured, eyes cast to the ground.

Kevin felt like an outsider…

Story of his life!

"Oh fine!" Steph stalked past Kevin and grabbed the abandoned smoothie cup and took a gulp of the stuff. She wiped her mouth on the back of her gloves and pulled a face. "Argh…liquefied crap. I can't believe you drink this stuff, Ben." She pushed it into his hands and went to the car door. "We'd better go. My mum has an extra shift at the hospital tonight and Gerald has 'business to attend to'. I promised I'd baby sit."

Steph's ability to gloss things over was a godsend. Ben followed her lead, sipping the smoothie contentedly, and got in the other side of the car. Gwen got into the passenger seat without saying anything, but her calm and relaxed manner eased his slowly mounting panic.

_Ben is gonna kill me. Ben's gonna kill me. If anything happened to Gwen he would've kill me…_

If anything _had_ happened to her…he'd probably kill himself.

Wait…what?!

He couldn't believe it, he was going _soft_. Over a _girl_! He was Kevin Levin, he didn't fall head over heels for some girl he barely knew like some cheesy hero plotline where the villain turns good and ends up marrying the hero's sister! It was stupid. Stupid, stupid, _stupid_!

He stopped outside Ben's house and said nothing as he got out of the car. Gwen didn't make any motion that she'd heard the door open and close, or the click of the seat belt.

"See ya tomorrow," Steph said lazily.

No one else spoke, so she kept quiet until he pulled up outside her own house. "See you guys tomorrow," she said, "g'night!"

"Good night, Steph," Gwen smiled at her, acknowledging Steph's departure.

"Bye," Kevin said listlessly.

Steph left a bit more gracefully than Ben had, and Kevin drove away before she had reached the front door. A few blocks away, he stopped and killed the engine, then leant against the steering wheel. A soft hand pressed against his shoulder for what felt the hundredth time day. He looked up, and jumped, startled by the proximity of her beautiful green eyes.

"Ignore Ben. He's an idiot."

"I know." He tried to smirk.

She smiled. "He's a doofus."

"Yeah…"

"See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah,"

She turned and got out of the car, and when the door clunked closed, Kevin sighed.

Maybe, hanging out with the Tennyson's wouldn't be _so_ bad after all…

---

**Don't forget to drop me a review if you have the time! ;) and Thanks again for reading xxxx**


	3. Phoenix Fire

**AN: ahoy! criticisms I see! it WOULD be grammar, xD my arch nemisis. may whatever supreme enitity in the universe bless the man/woman/face hugging alien who invented the spell/grammar checker for the computer. poke me with a stick until i improve on that :P**

**further to what ledah13 said, i'm scared you're reading my mind :S that was my intention to link their families together like that, just thinking about the hows/whys/stuff in general, and deciding whether or not steph's dad actually _is _alive or not. i should probably think these things through a bit more....... anyways, i'm rambling again!**

**Enjoy!**

_**Phoenix fire**_

Kevin was curious.

He'd always marvelled at the wider universe that he'd barely been able to understand as a child. He'd heard stories about Steph's ancestors, and was frustrated that she couldn't tell him a great deal since she didn't know much herself, besides the fact that the Avis population was divided into Clans, and often waged mini wars on each other. She knew a bit about their anatomy, she told him about the physical 'perks' that came with her heritage.

"I can drink myself stupid and stay sober," she grinned as they drove around on patrol. "My body temperature is higher than the normal healthy human, so most substances that I ingest are burned off quickly. It's good when you take something by accident like drugs. Someone spiked my drink at a party once. I was stoned for all of about one minute. Ha! The look on their face, so priceless…!"

Ben and Gwen laughed, and Kevin smirked. "Designated driver often?"

"Provisional drivers licence." Steph grinned at him in the mirror. "No one ever stopped and asked, so I got away with it."

"You're almost as bad as Kevin," Ben teased.

"Hell yeah!" she leant forward over the console and Kevin gave her a high five. "So, where was I?"

"Never get stoned or drunk…" Kevin reminded her, still smirking.

"Yeah, and I heal. Fast. I could snap my neck and be on my feet in a matter of days. Bruises though…" she grimaced. "They bloom," she motioned with a hand over her upper arm.

Kevin laughed. "I find that heard to believe," he taunted, hoping she'd demonstrate it and not wanting to ask for fear of sounding like a weirdo.

"Ben," she turned to her friend. "Punch me. _Really_ hard, right here," she pointed at her arm.

"I dunno…" Ben pulled a face. "No offence Steph, but it's just _wrong_, hitting a _girl_…"

"I'll sock you one and have you hospitalised for a month. _Again_."

Kevin turned to Gwen. "What? Tennyson got sent to hospital because of a _girl_?"

"Long story," she said hastily.

"Argh!" Ben snarled at Steph.

"Hit me Ben! I dare you!" Steph grinned fiercely.

Kevin took his eyes from the empty road for a moment to watch. Ben hit her really hard on the shoulder, and she winced. "Ooh! I actually _felt_ that one!" she teased, rubbing the tanned skin beneath her fingers. She barely concealed her grimace. "Ow…you could have been a bit less hard." Ben shrugged, and Steph turned her attention to her arm. "Wait for it," she removed her hand, and, sure enough, the skin was purpling like a thundercloud.

"Wow." Kevin was impressed, and made no move to hide it.

As he watched, the purple got darker, then receded to a sickly yellow, then faded altogether. "See?" Steph said, poking the area where the bruise had been. "I'm quite hardy."

"And how does the transformation thing work?" he pressed.

Steph shrugged, pulling a face. "Genetic quirk? I dunno. I have this friend, her uncle's a Plumber, and _she's_ part Lupus, proper werewolf. But her biological makeup's a bit different to mine. I'm from a member of the Phoenix Clan, aptly named since they all have red tipped hair and run at 100 degrees C."

"_Slight_ exaggeration." Gwen said over her shoulder.

"Basically their chief 'element' is fire. You got your Polar Clan with their white streaks, and usually pale skinned. They have control over temperatures, something like they manipulate exo and endothermic reactions to influence temperatures, so they are _of the ice_. Then you got the Aqueous Clan,"

"Wonder what that could be," Ben said sarcastically.

"Water, water, everywhere!" Steph laughed. "That's a bit harder to explain. Their hair is sort of…Erm…like a polar bear's."

"I don't get it," Kevin said slowly, trying to figure out what she meant.

"Like…oh god, how do I explain this? A polar bear's fur is actually transparent, so it looks white with all the snow around, cause the light refracts on the hairs. The Aqueous Clan has a gene that makes the ends of their hair loose the pigment so it reflects the colours around them. Sort of how the sea reflects the sky."

That made a lot more sense now. "Any others?" Kevin edged.

"Let's see…oh yeah, Aqueous do a lot with water. Hahaha very funny I know." she looked bored by the thought. "Then you have the Aero Clan – so imaginative my race, isn't it? Anyways, they look like eagles in their Avis form; the best aerobatic, sorry pun most certainly _not_ intended, best aerobatic flyers, Ben, shut the _hell_ up, would you?" He just laughed harder. "Git," Steph snarled. "So their element is air. Phoenix, 'nuff said, fire and red patches of hair," she tugged on her fringe in demonstration. "There's no earth Avis Clan, surprise, surprise, but there is the Lapis Clan – that's stone, live like the original Brits before the Romans paid a visit. Stonehenge builders, things like that. And of course, the Lamina Clan; do great works of art with metal, and they're all science geeks, mostly chemistry. Again, oh hahaha, it is to laugh." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "They could have been a bit more creative when they translated it to English. But there you go," she flicked her hand as though flicking the thought away, and looked out the window. "So that's my life story, hopefully I didn't bore you to de-"

"Look, over there!" Ben pointed.

"DNAlien's at 12 o'clock!"

"…It's five." Ben pointed out as Kevin swerved onto the hard shoulder.

"Who cares?!" Steph demanded.

"Let's go!" Kevin jumped out of the drivers seat, followed closely by the others.

It was a standard strategy; take out as many as possible, dig for information, steal some alien tech, clean up, then go home. So far, Steph hadn't gone Phoenix on them because she was a good fighter when it came to brawling. But, when the flyers came in and Jetray was knocked out of the sky, Gwen shouted, "Steph! Phoenix! _Now_!"

"Cover you eyes!" she yelled, running forward into a hoard of aliens.

Kevin didn't have any time to register what she was saying before he was blinded by a flash of harsh, white light. Then, when he managed to blink away the spots in his vision, Kevin saw a huge golden bird with red tipped wings and crest, and a long, slender neck. It turned its head, he saw two sapphire eyes and knew immediately it was Steph. She opened her beak and an eerie sound issued from her mouth, the DNAlien's gazed at her in what he could only imagine was horror.

"Play times over," Steph's voiced echoed around them, though her beak remained closed. She spread her wings wide, then beat them down, and she was in the air, gaining altitude.

Below, many aliens ran for it, so Gwen and Kevin picked them off one by one while Ben and Steph swooped overhead, dealing with the flyers and the ones who tried to run.

Kevin smirked; this was going to be a push over! Then he heard something that made his blood run cold. Not the teeth grating shriek of a DNAlien, or the ethereal call of a Phoenix, but Gwen's desperate call for help. Without thinking, he grabbed the alien before him and threw it over shoulder into a tree before running to the sound of her voice, yelling, "Gwen!"

He was just in time to see her thrown to the ground and spat at with their disgusting goo. Kevin bowled the offending alien over and punched them in the gut. "Stay away from her!" he rounded on another that tried to take advantage of her weakness.

Steph screeched so loudly that they all put their hands on their ears. She dived, talons first, into their midst and grabbed the one closest to Gwen. "Back off!" she hurled the alien over the horizon, and dived for the next one. With her wings spread to slow the decent, she was vulnerable, and they took advantage of that. By the time she landed, she was so covered in their bizarre spit that she couldn't fly. Instead, she ran at them on the ground with her powerful legs, pecking them with her long beak that had a slight curve at the end.

Once the coast was clear, Steph made her way over to Gwen, and used her beak to pull at the goo encasing her. "Eww!" she complained, her voice independent of her mouth. "Disgusting!"

"Here," Kevin shoved her out of the way with more force than necessary, but he was more concerned with Gwen and had seen for himself how enduring Steph was. He tore at the hardened goo, and she pushed until it came loose. Steph nudged it with her beak.

"Mel would like a sample of this stuff. Mind if it goes in the car?"

"You get it on the seats I'll gut you like a chicken," Kevin threatened.

"Fair dos."

"You okay?" he asked in a low, tight voice. A bruise was developing on her left temple.

"Yeah, fine. I was taken by surprise," she let him help her to her feet. When she was stable, Steph leant forward and wiped her clean beak in Gwen's hair, making an odd cooing noise at the back of her throat. "I'm fine Steph, really." She looked up at Kevin, and blushed.

He realised after a few seconds that his hands were on her shoulders, holding her closer than courtesy allowed. "Uh…you sure?" he asked, trying to make it look as though he was inspecting her bruise.

He was half expecting her to snap at him, the way she'd snapped at Ben so many times before, but she merely looked up at him. "Yeah…I'm sure…" she said gently.

"Gwen!" they both turned to see Ben running towards them as a human, looking worried. "You okay?"

Kevin was suddenly five feet away from her, just in case Ben got any ideas…Steph managed to raise an eyebrow at him, still feathered and dripping with green goo. Gwen looked a little stunned.

"Ben, I'm fine," she told him.

"Good, Steph?"

"I looked like I've been sneezed on…" she grumbled.

"You're not getting in the car like that." Kevin said stubbornly.

"And I can't fly home." She pointed out. "You got something I can sit on? A towel or something?"

"I'll take a look," Kevin said, returning to his car. After a quick rummage through the trunk, he found an old towel. He folded it in half and placed it on Steph's seat. "There, but I haven't got anything for the back of the seat."

Ben slid his jacket off. "What about this?"

"Eyes," Steph said, and they shielded themselves. When they looked again, she was there, tall, blonde, human, and dripping in DNAlien goo. "Ewww! Rank!" she complained.

"Here," Ben handed her his jacket.

"Cheers," she pulled it around her shoulders. "Argh, the hair!" she patted the top of her head.

Kevin turned to the rustle of fabric, and his eyes bugged out of their sockets. Gwen was pulling her blue jumper over her head, her hips swayed to one side in an almost mocking fashion. God, if he looked close enough, which I forced himself not to, he could see the outline of the vest she wore beneath her fitted shirt. "Will this do?"

"That's meant to be worn over your torso," Ben said as Steph wrapped it around her hair, "_not_ like a turban."

"Oh well," Steph was unconcerned. "Right, shall we?"

"Let's go," Gwen agreed, walking to the car.

They all got in, and Kevin tried to keep his attention on the road. Gwen's slim figure was evident, even through her jumper, but without it…he could see the contours of her body more clearly, and he fought with himself to not look at her. Or at least, not make it obvious. Ben and Steph prattled on in the background about the fight, and ran through theories on what they had stumbled on.

He didn't pay attention; he was absorbed with the red-haired beauty sitting beside him. The worst part was, he didn't want to look at her, but he did, and despite how he hated himself, he liked what he saw. The way her slender figure curved in all the right places, the way she held her shoulders straight and dignified, the way her…well, the way her breasts were well proportioned to the rest of her body.

It creeped Kevin out, how some woman had plastic surgery to get bigger in the breast department. It looked so…wrong, to have a tiny waist and a huge bust. Gwen looked perfect the way she was.

She was watching the trees fly by the window, and the other two were arguing, and no one was on the road except them…Kevin gave in to his darker side and watched her full in the face.

Her bone structure was delicate, accentuating her already perfect physic. Fair skin…like cream. Green eyes…shaped like almonds. Red hair…like…like nothing he'd ever seen before.

He needed psychological help. Badly. There he went again, sounding like a bloody poet! What was wrong with him!? He'd seen Gwen before…he remembered her vaguely, since Ben had taken most of his attention as they fought each other. But, to an eleven-year-old living on the streets, girls weren't all that important.

Still…how had he not _noticed_ her before? She had been pretty when she was ten. She was beautiful now at fifteen. He forced himself to look ahead at the road, and managed to stop before he went through a red light just as a police car came round the corner. No one noticed his near mistake, luckily for him; Ben would have slipped in a snide remark for sure if he'd noticed, but he was looking Steph in the eye, frowning as she gazed back levelly.

"Hell no, Ben. You're not budging me on this one."

Kevin sighed, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He couldn't wait to get home where he could be on his own and think properly. With Gwen sitting beside him, combing her fingers through her hair, it was incredibly hard to form a coherent thought.

---


	4. Knight in shining Armour

**AN: bah humbug! :D wooo i love this time of year! i know i should be doing homework and other boring things but when you have a freak snow storm for one day, what's a kid to do?! :P i should have proof read this chapter but i didn't really have the time, what with the snow, and work, and assorted wastes of time.**

**also, not to whine and moan or anything, but i haven't had a lot of feed back, and i'm not sure if that has anything to do with my lame writing skills. speak to me people! if it's that bad, tell me so! it's the only way i'll learn ;) so, if you have the time, do drop me a review or a message, you're input is greatly appreciated!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything Disney, though I wish I did because it's awesome! **

**_Knight in shinning armour_**

"Aww, my back!" Steph complained, putting her hands on her lower back and stretching as far as she could. A large and nasty looking bruise was forming over her collarbone and along her shoulder as well. "Watch where you fling that bloody tail!" she snapped at Ben.

"Stephenie Smith watch your language!" her mother called from the kitchen.

They had been out fighting the Forever Knights, and were sore, tired, hungry, and needed a shower. Ben had misjudged a jump with Humungosaur, and caught Steph with his tail as he landed. She'd luckily only caught the end so the damage was minimal, plus she'd been in her Phoenix form at the time so her spine hadn't been snapped in half. But, as she kept complaining, that didn't make it hurt any less.

Steph's mother was as petite as Mel, and exceptionally pretty. She also took Steph's well being very seriously, and she was probably going to storm out into the hallway and lecture her on being needlessly reckless with her friends everyday of the week.

Ben liked Michelle Smith-Tanner a lot; she was a kind woman who never held grudges and always had the time for you. And she took on Tom, Dylan, Erin and Ella even when they weren't her children. Her husband, Gerald, was also nice, and slightly more lenient when it came to their alien escapades.

He came out of the huge open plan living room where the twins were fighting with Kev over the TV remote. "Oh dear," he ran a hand through his hair, looking at the four of them. "What happened?"

"Ben nearly decapitated me with his tail," Steph growled.

"Hey, I said I was sorry!" Ben tried to defend himself.

"Well, go up stairs," he nodded at the staircase. "I'll keep Michelle occupied."

"Steph, what have you been up to this time?" she called from the kitchen.

"Epp!" Steph grabbed Ben and Kevin by their elbows and pushed them to the stairs. "Go up, go up, go up!"

"Why?" Kevin asked scathingly.

"Vilgax was nothing compared to an enraged mom." Ben told him under his breath.

"_Stephenie_,"

"Michelle, they're fine," Gerald began.

"Go find Mel, she'll get us some towels, I'll sort this out," Steph nudged Gwen up the stairs before heading to the kitchen, head held high. "Mum, it's not what it looks like..."

"What happened to you!?" Michelle demanded.

"Nothing! Listen…"

On the second floor they dropped their bags in a heap at the foot of the spiral wooden staircase that lead to the attic room where Mel and Steph slept. With nine people living in the house, the building was rather big, and the attic spanned most of the length of it. The floor space made up for the sloping ceilings on the east and west sides of the room. There was a small but functional on suite shower room round the back of the stair well, and just to the right of the open door way was a recessed section of the room that hung over the front door below. As they all stepped out into the room, Ben looked up and saw Mel sitting on the end of a large, low bed that was little more than a mattress set in a wooden box frame on the floor.

"Oh dear." She said, taking in the sight before her. "Hard night?"

"We need to borrow your shower," Gwen said apologetically.

"It seems my mother is giving Steph a hard time." Her creepy sixth sense let her pick up emotional vibrations and so on. She could probably feel what was going on down stairs. "Stay here, I'll be right back. Make yourselves at home." She got up and glided past them to the stairs.

Ben went over to the large and comfortable sofa pushed up against the back wall and fell onto it, sighing. He hadn't been up here much since Steph had moved in; they'd done a bit of decorating, and it was quite like her old room when they had lived in England. The sturdy metal study bunk was pushed up against the adjacent wall where the ceiling was high enough to accommodate it. The desk below held a computer and a few drawers, and was littered with paper. The walls had shelves where there was space, and a chest of drawers and a small wardrobe. Steph's designated area was the study bunk and chest of drawers; Mel's was the recessed area where she kept all her equipment for her potions and spiritual rituals; the space Ben was in now was shared between them, with a pile of bean bags, large cushions, a comfy sofa, a coffee table and TV set.

Gwen flopped down onto the beanbags in front of the sofa, and Kevin followed awkwardly, not sure where to go. In the end, he settled for the free cushion beside Gwen. Ben would have made a comment, but they were all tired, and he didn't want an argument that Kevin (who never seemed to run out of steam) would win.

The stairs creaked, and they all looked up in time to see Mel, followed by Steph, entering the room. "Maybe you should have kept your past times a secret." Mel sighed.

"Come off it! She's a _mum_; she'd have worked it out eventually. I thought that if she knew where I was every evening she might be more inclined to let me out late."

"Your grammar needs work." Mel told her. "I have towels. There's a bathroom and a wet room down stairs, and a shower room up here. Someone's going to have to wait."

"I will." Steph volunteered.

"Okay," Mel gestured for them to follow her. "If you'd just follow me."

Steph beckoned to Gwen as the guys went down the stairs. "Okay, this shower's tricky, the hot's cold, the cold's hot, and you have to turn it all the way up before you get a decent amount of water, then all the way down again so you don't drown…"

After they'd picked up their rucksacks which held their all important spare change of clothes, Mel directed Ben to the on suite bathroom through Michelle and Gerald's room, and Kevin to the one at the end of the corridor. Because they'd been out for hours, the grim had dried into a solid mass in his hair, so Ben spent ages trying to dislodge it. When he'd finally managed to get his hair clean, he turned the shower off, dried, and pulled his clean clothes on. He went upstairs again, and found Steph at her computer, keyboard clicking away under her fingers.

"What's that?" he asked, curious.

"I've been keeping a record of all the raids we make. Any alien activity that occurs and we deal with, I type up a report and store it on this," she paused for a moment to hold up a memory stick before she went back to her typing.

"Hmm," Ben sat down on the futon that was bolted to the bunk's frame. "That's a good idea, Steph. Why didn't I think of it?"

"You? Think?" she asked innocently, giving him a sly smile over her shoulder.

Ben grinned back. Steph never meant any harm; she took the mick out of everyone, so it was never anything personal. But she always seemed to stop before the joke had gone too far, so she rarely ever made someone really upset or angry with her.

"You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

"Nope." Steph smirked. "Glad to see you grewed up. I'd have thrown you off that cliff by now if you hadn't."

"Oh no, not the cliff!" Ben threw his hands up in defence.

The two of them burst out laughing. "Oh God," Steph pretended to wipe away a tear. "Those were the days, Uncle Max's cooking, fixing the rust bucket, dodging spit wads, and Gwen's laptop."

"Too bad you missed the first summer road trip." Ben sighed. It had been an incredible summer.

"Too bad I was dying from a burst appendix." She pulled a face. "I still can't believe I got that ill from it."

"I thought _I_ made you ill," Ben laughed.

"That too," she admitted thoughtfully.

Mel came into the room, followed by Kevin. Steph looked over her shoulder and smiled, acknowledging their presence. She went back to her computer screen and went on with her report. Kevin fell unceremoniously onto the sofa and closed his eyes.

---

After fifteen minutes of scrubbing, Kevin had managed to get all the gunk out of his hair. He didn't want to waste too much water, so he got out when he thought his hair wasn't a mess anymore.

He met Mel on her way up to the attic. She smiled warmly before she ascended the stairs, and he followed. The sound of laughter met him as he entered the room. Ben and Steph were sharing some inside joke; she smiled at him as he walked to the sofa, then went back to her computer. She was probably typing up her daily report. He closed his eyes, relaxing for the first time that day. Weekends were meant for chilling out, not running around after men in metal tin cans wielding alien tech.

"Where's Gwen?" he asked eventually, giving in to the nagging suspicion that she wasn't close by.

Not that he cared or anything…much…

"Shower." Steph said promptly. "I think I might use the one down stairs when I'm done here."

He strained his ears, and sure enough, he could hear the sound of running water over the sounds of the keyboard and Mel mixing herbs together in front of her bed. She hummed to herself absently, and Kevin was sure he wasn't imagining Gwen doing the same. He let his head fall back and enjoyed the down time, ignoring the filthy look Ben was probably giving him.

"Steph?" Gwen asked.

Kevin looked up reflexively at the sound of her voice, and felt the heat creep into his face. Steph was already half way across the room, acting as though nothing was different. Gwen was standing on a thick rug by the door to the shower room, wrapped in a large cream coloured towel, her hair turned copper with the water and hanging down her back limply.

"Yeah?" Steph asked, unfazed.

A quick glance at Ben showed that he was busy reading a magazine about sports, also unbothered by his cousin's lack of clothing.

"I left my bag down stairs and it's got my spare clothes in it."

"Be right back," Steph said, already on the stairs.

Gwen turned her attention to a framed picture on the wall, and Kevin tried and failed to look anywhere but at her. It had to be the way, didn't it? Fate taunting him with a red haired, green eyed, beautiful girl he could never be with. It seemed like Steph was taking forever to get the damn backpack, but she was back all too soon and handed it to Gwen. She smiled and said, "Thanks. By the way, what's that?" she pointed at the picture.

"Oh, that? We went to Vancouver Island for a couple of weeks last year and we saw this in a gift shop. Mel and her friend we stayed with like the native artwork so she bought it and we had it framed. Like it?"

"Very atmospheric." She agreed.

"You know, if you stand around like that any longer you'll get a chill." Steph pointed out.

"Yeah, and thanks," she patted the bag before going into the room and shutting the door.

Steph turned around, smiling to herself. She saw Kevin still looking her way, and her smile faltered. She looked at him as blankly as his mind felt. "Can I help?"

"Err…" he saw still staring at the place where Gwen had been standing. "Just wondering…" he said vaguely.

Steph frowned, then pointed over her shoulder. "About the picture?"

"Yeah," he said quickly, covering up his mistake of getting caught.

"Wanna see it?" Steph invited.

"Sure," why not? He got up and went over to the wall where it hung. "What is it?"

"Like I said to Gwen, it's something Mel found in a gift shop on Vancouver Island. She likes the native art, and, well…I think it sums her up." Steph pointed. The picture was a watercolour painting of a killer whale jumping out of the sea, with an image reflected below it in the native style. A cliff above in the distance had a baying wolf and a larger stylised wolf imposed behind in the circle of a full moon. An Eagle flew over the whole scene with its corresponding counterpart reflected below in the water. A school of salmon in different styles were jumping and swimming right at the bottom of the picture. "Quite cool, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Kevin had to admit it, it _was_ kinda cool.

"What happened to the other stuff?" Ben asked, making them both jump.

"Gees, do you have to sneak up on people?" Steph snapped. "Didn't your mother ever tell you its rude?"

"Just asking." Ben shrugged.

Steph shrugged it off. "You mean the phoenix that guy did for me?"

"Yeah."

"And the other stuff?"

"Yup."

"Mel?"

"I heard."

Steph lead them over to a cabinet tucked away in a corner. Mel was unlocking the door and taking something out. "Soap stone," she smiled and handed a beautifully carved bird in a red stone. "Of course, Steph _would_ ask for phoenix." She smiled as her sister swatted at her.

"And Mel _would_ choose this," she leant over and grabbed another sculpture that was mounted on a piece of wood. An eagle and a killer whale, each intertwined around the other intricately. "Cause she's a eagle," she grinned evilly. "And her _boyfriend's_ an orca." She laughed as Mel gently took the sculpture back from her.

"Shoo!" she said, waving her hands at them. "You need to wash your hair," she added.

"I know, I know!" Steph tugged at the solid mass that was her hair. "I think I'll finish the report when I get back."

"I can do that," Kevin offered.

"You don't mind?"

"Nope."

"Okay,"

"Hey, wait a sec, you're letting him on your computer?" Ben asked, scandalised.

"Oh my god, you're right!" Steph clapped her hands over her face in horror. "By letting Kevin use my computer the end of the world must be nigh!" then she gave him a very bored expression. "What would he want with a hunk of junk like that anyway? If he stole it he'd be doing us a favour! We've been meaning to upgrade for ages."

"You're letting _him_ do the reports?" Ben asked sullenly.

"Do the reports? It was _his_ idea to make reports in the first place!" Steph said. "God Ben, get over it!" she put a hand of his shoulder and gave him a shove. "I take back what I said earlier, you're still as immature as before!" she stalked across the room and grabbed a pile of clothes from the top of the study bunk, stomped over to Mel and took a towel, then went down the stairs.

Kevin sat down and looked at the screen before him. He heard the sofa creak as Ben sat down and ignored him. Steph had written in short paragraphs, keeping blunt and to the point. She had already mentioned Ben hitting her with his tail, but hadn't ranted about it, merely stating: _Casualties: Steph hit across small of back by humungosaur's tail. Gwen knocked unconscious by falling rubble. No life threatening or serious injury occurred_. She was nearly finished, so he just summarised the clean up process and then where they'd gone afterwards.

The shower room door opened and Kevin looked up. Gwen came out, hair still damp but not soaked, and smiling. "Hey guys,"

"Hey Gwen," Ben said listlessly.

"Where's Steph?" she asked, walking across the room towards Kevin.

"Down stairs." Mel said from her mixing.

Kevin's heart leaped into his mouth as Gwen approached, then jittered as she sat on the futon and grabbed a nature magazine from the pile on the floor where Ben's sports mag had been dumped. She flicked through until she found an article that interested her, and began to read.

The atmosphere in the room was complicated, and Kevin would bet his car that Mel could feel it. There was Gwen, calm and relaxed, unwinding after a whole day of running around like a headless chicken. Then there was Kevin and Ben, who were silently fuming with each other, seemingly wrapped up in a tense little bubble of their own while the rest of the room lay in serene peace and quiet.

Kevin nearly cheered when someone ran up the stairs and proclaimed, "Dinner's ready. You guys wanna stay for free food?"

"I'm in!" Ben said, suddenly cheerful, and standing up.

"Sure, I'll just call my parents and let them know," Gwen reached into her pocket for her phone.

"Sure," Kevin said heavily.

Ben gave him the 'I'm not talking to you, you evil person' look and went down the stairs.

"I'll be there in a moment Steph, I have to let this simmer for a few more minutes." Mel told her.

"Hey, mom, it's Gwen," she listened for a moment. Steph yawned widely and leant against the lintel of the doorway tapping her finger impatiently against her wrist. "No, I'm at Steph's house. We're staying for dinner." She paused again to listen. "Okay, see you then, love you," she lowered her phone. "They want me back by eleven."

"Sure thing," Steph said impatiently. "Now can we _go_? I'm starving!"

Gwen got up and went to the staircase. She turned round to look at Kevin. "Are you coming?"

"C'mon Kevin, free food! That's the best kind!" Steph grinned.

He heaved himself to his feet and followed the girls down stairs. Ben was already helping himself to food in the kitchen when they arrived. The two girls Erin and Ella were running around in circle crowing loudly. "Oh _now_ what?" Steph demanded.

"Daddy went out and bought this!" said the one in the red jumper.

"Oh my god!" Steph swooped down to pick the girl up. "Erin, is this a Disney I see before me?"

"Yeah!" She squealed

"Can we watch it?" the other girl asked. "Please?"

They both started pleading with her. "Stop it, girls, please! We've had a long day and we can't take it any more!" they watched her expectantly. "Ask dad," she said finally."

"Yey!" the girls ran from the room and Steph sighed. "Hope you don't mind Disney." She said to Kevin. "Hey Ben, nice to see you left us some food."

Ben, who had his mouth full, didn't reply. "Attractive." Gwen said, arms folded as he passed her at the doorway.

"Anyways," Steph said, grabbing some plates from the side and digging in a drawer for forks. "Take what you like, there's more where that came from. Mum, budge up!"

"Sorry sweetheart," her mother moved out of Steph's way. "The glasses are in the dish washer."

"'Kay,"

Kevin hadn't really met Michelle formally. She was as petite and pretty as Mel, with the same curls, although her hair was more honey blonde. The only difference was that and her grey eyes, and there were laugh lines around her face. All she knew was her youngest daughter ran around with the Tennyson cousins and another boy from the rough end of Bellwood. Still, every time he'd encountered her she'd been nothing but kind and polite. She was like Mel, in many ways; she was the sort of person it was impossible to not like.

"Michelle," Gerald stuck his head round the door. He was a bit taller than Kevin, with chocolate brown hair, tanned skin, and warm hazel eyes. "I think the children have their hearts set on watching Robin Hood."

"That's okay with us," Gwen spoke up for them.

"You don't mind?" Steph asked Kevin as they spooned pasta onto their plates. "Mushrooms are over there," she pointed at a bowl.

"The Disney film?" Kevin was dubious.

"Yeah. I haven't seen it in ages," Steph said, taking a handful of mushrooms and eating it off the spoon. She dumped it in the sink before her mother saw.

"Never seen it." Kevin said matter-of-factly.

"What?!" Steph exploded. "Never seen Robin Hood?! What the hell Kevin! That's like a crime against humanity!"

"Calm down," Gwen said soothingly. "Not everyone loves Disney as much as you,"

"But it's Robin Hood!" Steph stared at him in amazement. "You're watching it," she decided.

She whisked her plate away and headed for the living room. "Ben, start up the DVD player!"

"Whatever," Kevin shrugged it off. "It's not like I have I say in it."

"It's not that bad," Gwen said, laying a hand on his shoulder.

He nearly dropped his food as she did so. Fixing her with one of his stern looks, he appraised her expression.

She smiled at him. "Ben and Steph loved that film. They'll probably be on the floor with the kids watching it. You can sit with me on the sofa." She turned to leave the room, and Kevin followed in a daze.

In the huge, open plan living room Steph was setting the DVD player up. The twins and Kev were sitting on the floor beside Ben, who was, of course, stuffing his face with food. Gwen sat down gracefully on the couch and Kevin sat beside her with a little less poise.

"Hurry up!" one of the twins complained. He couldn't be sure, but Kevin thought the girl with the red hair scrunchies was Erin, and the girl with lavender ones was Ella.

"I can't go any faster than the DVD player!" Steph retorted. "Stupid thing…" she muttered under her breath.

It took a few minutes for her to set everything up, but once she did and the film began, Ben and Steph took their places on the floor with the three other children, just as Gwen had predicted.

The music with the opening credits was vaguely familiar to Kevin. _Oh_, so _that's_ where the music came from!

Gwen laughed along with Steph and Ben, who kept making comments in low voices about the film. "Because, of course, Little John would have an American accent." Steph pointed out.

When the weird snake started talking to the lion Ben and Steph grinned. "Love that guy!" Steph said gleefully.

"Sssssssssssss!" Ben hissed at her.

Gwen laughed. "Who's the biggest child here?"

"A'that would be me," Steph poked herself in the shoulder. She and Ben laughed. "Hells to the yea!" she held her hand up and Ben slapped it.

"I'd forgotten how awesome this movie was!"

"Nothing beats Disney!" Steph agreed.

When the film came to a scene with the fox and bear talking about Maid Marian, Kevin felt his throat constrict. Robin Hood was talking about how his and Marian's relationship would never work. Kevin chanced a glance at Gwen, who had finished her food and had her legs up on the sofa, looking very content. Listening to the talking cartoon animals brought home a crushing realisation; he couldn't ever be anything more than just a teammate to her. What could he offer her? Nothing.

He was no good for her, and unlike Robin Hood, he had nothing to redeem himself in her eyes.

"I think that's over rated." Steph said suddenly, pointing at the screen,

"What d'ya mean?" Ben questioned, giving her a funny look.

"I mean," she waved her hand in that now familiar gesture of vagueness. "All the interesting heroes are on the run from the law, and assume that because of that they're no good for their love interest."

"It's an old formula." Mel said from her chair by the study door.

"Yeah. But, I think it shouldn't matter what you station is."

"Station." Ben sneered. "That's a posh word from you."

Steph, eyes still on the screen, leaned over and punch his arm. "Shut up. Anyway, I think you should be allowed to be with someone, if you really love them."

"Like…a knight in shining armour?" Ben sniggered.

"That's about right." Steph said with a shrug. "Love is love is love. It should be allowed to…" she looked frustrated. "What's the word?"

"Flourish?" Gwen offered, elbow on the arm of the sofa, hand cupping her cheek, leaning on her elbow.

"Yeah, that's the one,"

That gave Kevin a small spark of hope. Gwen seemed to support Steph's idea…

Nah, she wouldn't be interested in someone like _him_.

As the film went on, he began joining in with comments, such as the 'splitting an arrow with another arrow' scenario. "You know that's actually impossible?" Steph pointed out.

"How come?" Ben asked.

Kevin answered. "When you fire an arrow it bends from side to side as it goes through the air, so it never follows a straight path." Ben actually looked interested.

"Physics never lies." Steph grinned as Ben looked down at his empty bowl. "You eat anymore and you'll explode." She warned him.

"That's a bad thing?" Kevin asked. "Ow!" Gwen had slapped him, not very hard, on the shoulder. Still, she _slapped_ him. How unfair! What did he do to deserve that?

"Actually yeah, Ben, do have as much as you like!" Steph smiled brightly.

See? It wasn't _just_ Kevin, but Gwen let it slide with Steph. Must be a girl thing…

After a quick wrestling match, which Steph won, they all ranted about how Sir Hiss was floating around in a balloon above the field.

"He'd die of asphyxiation!" Ben pointed out.

"They didn't have balloons back then!" Steph ranted.

"Where'd the helium come from?" Kevin asked.

"Heeeeeeliiummmm!" Steph put on a funny voice that had everyone in stitches.

Gwen very nearly fell off the sofa laughing, but Kevin caught her before she did. He felt the heat creep into his face again as he righted her beside him. She just felt so small and delicate and…_breakable_.

Throughout the rest of the movie, he kept shooting her sideways glances, which either she didn't notice or chose to ignore. By the end, Kevin had made one of his sarcastic remarks, and everyone had fallen about laughing again. Gwen leaned against his shoulder this time so she didn't land up on the floor. Again, Kevin felt uncomfortable from the close contact.

Argh! What was wrong with him? He'd like to get closer to Gwen, but…not literally!

Thinking about it while Steph collected the bowls and plates up, he wasn't sure he'd survive a car journey home next to Gwen; he would probably drive the car into a ditch.

---

**Yeah....the whol Robin Hood thing kinda came up because my brother is home for the holidays and we were watching this film together and laughing our heads off at the impossiblity of it all, and then I sat down and wrote this completely at random.**

**Is it good??? Bad?????? Lemme know, please review! ;) xxx**


	5. Fish'n'chip day

**AN: (sighs with relief) phew! For a while back there I was starting to think my writing skills were that bad! xD Okay, this was inspired by me being on the phone to a friend of mines for HOURS (she happens to be american) and she traided stories on pranks we've seen/pulled/been a part of/were pranked upon and laughed ourselves stupid. Also, fish and chips are in my opinion THE best food ever devised by man kind :D **

**Also, if Steph confuses you with the UK education system, this is how it works; you go to play school, then nursery, and then start formal education at 5 years until you reach yr6 so you're at the top of the primary school, and then you get dumped in the big kids school which we call secdonary school from the ages of 11 to 16 and then you can quit, or go onto do A levels which gets you into Univeristy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure our universities are the same as American Colleges; we have colleges that do A level courses and stuff which is where I am now :p I do so love study periods, you get an awful amount of nothing done in half an hour!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Sandwich bar, Subway, Lord of The Rings, or any of these pranks. Go on the internet and you can find them all there except possibly for the computer-hacking one because that's exactly what my teacher did to some of the people in my class all those years ago. :D it was truly HILARIOUS to watch and I have yet to find someone on the web who's done the same thing ;) I also don't own online slime but I can't credit the person who does cause I duno who owns it, suffice to say that I don't**

_**Fish'n'chip Day**_

They had been fighting non-stop in the evenings and over the weekends for more two weeks, and Steph finally put her foot down when a lull in the general Alien activity in the area occurred. "Seriously," she said as they finished their patrol Friday evening. "I don't go to school, and yet I'm exhausted. And you guys have homework and stuff to do! Can't we just take it easy for the next few days? I think we're gonna have a collective nervous breakdown sooner or later if we keep this up."

Everyone else had been fed up with patrol duty too, but had not the guts to get up and say so, thinking they would get laughed at and, or, over ruled.

Ben groaned. "Need…smoothy…"

"Oh, shut up!" Steph snapped. "You're giving me a headache…" she cupped her face dramatically with her hands and moaned. "What I wouldn't give for a bowl of fish and chips…"

"What?" Kevin raised an eyebrow at her in the rear mirror.

"My biological makeup is different to a normal human women's, am I right?"

"I guess so." He admitted.

"Chocolate is a comfort food for women. No, seriously," she got impatient when Kevin and Ben started laughing at her. "It's a chemical anti-depressant for us. You two have 'Y' chromosomes so I wouldn't expect you to understand. It just so happens that my comfort food is some good old fashioned fish'n'chips wrapped in that weird paper they sell it in." she had an odd expression on her face as she continued, "God I miss the smell of it!"

"Weirdo," Ben and Kevin muttered at the same time. They looked up at each other, Ben at the back of the headrest in front of him, Kevin in the mirror, and then they both started laughing again.

"But I do! Guys, it's not funny, _stop laughing!_"

Gwen sighed loudly, which made them quieten their mirth to mere sniggers. "Give it a rest you two."

"Bitches, the both of you." Steph muttered darkly. "So!" she said, her tone brightening somewhat. "Meet up at Mr Smoothies tomorrow? Tom said he knows this really good chippie nearby…"

"You and your chips!" Ben laughed again.

"Hells to the yeah!" Steph grinned, her previous irritation forgotten. "Say, ten o'clock? That is, if you remember to get your lazy arse outta bed."

"Half past?" Kevin put in.

"Make it eleven, I have some essays I need to write before Monday." Gwen said.

"Aw, c'mon Gwen! You got the whole weekend!" Ben complained loudly.

"I like to keep _ahead_ of my work." Gwen said icily, looking over her shoulder at her cousin. "Unlike _some_ people I know."

"Oh, I bet you do," Kevin smirked.

"Ooooooohhhhhh!" Steph burst out laughing with Ben again, and would have fallen out of their seats if it weren't for the safety belts. They practically clung to each other for support. "Can't…breathe…" Ben gasped.

"Oh, that was a good one Kevin," Steph managed to say before she lost her breath altogether.

The look Gwen was giving him should have burnt a whole right through him, but Kevin couldn't find it in him to be intimidated. She was just so easy to wind up, and, though he had trouble admitting it, she was adorable when she was pissed off. Gwen folded her arms and turned her head stubbornly away from his gaze and stared out the window instead. After that, things calmed down, and the two in the back seat managed to get over their laughing fit.

"Okay, meet outside Mr Smoothies at eleven. I'll get us some fish and chips then?"

"I'll get the smoothies." Ben declared.

"You sure as hell are _not_!" Steph snapped. "I swear, one more of those…those…you know what? There is no word in this, or any language spoken by sentient beings of the known and unknown universe that can describe just how…disgustingly _awful_ and generally icky _things_ those people have the _nerve_ to call drinks!"

"They're not all that bad!" Ben argued back. "Some of them have ginger in them…"

"Hah! Don't make me laugh…"

And so the fight broke out. Kevin might have told them both to shut the hell up, but his attention was taken up by Gwen, who still sat glaring sullenly at the buildings as they drove past. Really, he hadn't meant to upset her so much, but he wasn't the type of person to admit he was wrong, either. And he wouldn't admit to it now, especially not with Ben in the car. Still…he wanted to say _something_ to her that wouldn't make him sound like a jerk.

Unluckily, Gwen's house was the furthest away, so he would have to endure her angry silence for longer. When he stopped by Ben's house, the pair of them were still at it. "We'll finish this tomorrow." Steph promised menacingly. She did the 'I'm watching you' sign; first and index fingers spread out, point first from her eyes to Ben's face, then back again.

"Later," he shrugged her threat off and walked up to his front door.

When Kevin dropped Steph off, she opened the door, and cursed loudly. "Bloody rain, had enough of that to last me a life time in England." True, it was just starting to spit. "See you guys tomorrow if we don't all drown first." She slammed the door shut and ran up the driveway as the rain began to get heavier.

By the time Kevin pulled up outside Gwen's house, it was tipping it down.

"Just great…" she muttered angrily to herself. She glared out the windshield, arms still folded across her chest. Since she made no move to get out, Kevin leaned round the back of his seat and sifted through the junk beneath it for the umbrella he knew he had left there. It was kind of funny and cute at the same time when he opened the passenger door and she squeaked with surprise. "What?" she demanded, sounding a little breathless.

"…It's raining?" he stated, trying not to give her the 'duh!' look.

"Oh." Was all she said.

Gwen got out the passengers seat and they walked up to her front door. She took her house key from her purse and unlocked the door, then turned to him. She opened her mouth for a moment, then closed it, seeming to think better of it.

"See you tomorrow," he offered, in a somewhat apologetic voice.

Her expression softened somewhat. "See you," then she was over the threshold and the door closed quietly behind her.

Kevin ran back to his car and got in. The rain was picking up, and he wanted to get home before it got even worse.

---

At half past eleven the next day, they were sitting in Kevin's car, eating Steph's fish and chips, drinking Ben's smoothies, and watching the rain fall incessantly outside. After all the teasing and fighting was over, Ben had to admit, these _were_ good fish and chips. The mix up of who wanted what on their portions had taken forever to sort out, but finally they had what they all wanted; Gwen liked hers plain, Ben liked his with just vinegar, Steph liked hers salted (a lot since her higher body temperature burnt it all off so quickly), and Kevin's food was drowning in vinegar and a pinch of salt.

Steph was giving Ben her superior 'I told you so!' look over the top of her smoothie cup. The one good thing about today was Ben had found a drink that she would tolerate; orange and passion fruit. He knew he would get there in the end, and he had! Now, if he could just think of a way to stop the DNAliens…

"This is actually really good," Gwen commented after a peaceful silence.

"Very unhealthy." Kevin agreed. "I like it."

"Once in a blue moon won't kill us." Steph said, mouth full of battered fish. "Mmm…now this takes me back! I miss Sixth Form," she said dreamily. "Sandwich Bar, Subways, fish and chips every day…"

"It's a wonder no one had a heart attack," Ben said. This was really tasty food, but the fat content was something he did not want to contemplate right now.

"Actually, this one guy did," Steph corrected him.

Kevin looked at her in the rear mirror. "What happened?"

"Okay, what you have to understand is that this person was unhealthy. I mean _really_ unhealthy. Always skirted Games, never went out and did anything active, had a phobia of fresh fruit and veg…yeah, extremely bad diet. My friends and I made a point of having things like green vegetables and apples and stuff, and we always did netball or badminton or tennis or aerobics or _something_ in PE every week. Okay, we did skip a few times and went to the common and played Frisbee all afternoon, but yeah. I could happily spend a couple of days eating nothing but this," she held up her diminished meal, "but this guy could happily eat just this for the rest of his life. The local swimming centre is close to school, like a seven minute walk or something, and he had a heart attack just after we left the school campus."

"Sucks to be him." Kevin said, looking a little shocked.

"How old was he?" Ben ignored the guy in the driver's seat.

"Like…oh god, lemme think…" she pondered for a moment before she answered. "Fifteen or fourteen? He was…year…nine? I was in the sixth form at that point, but I caught up in the fuss and ended up in the ambulance taking the guy to hospital." She pulled a face. "At least I wasn't swimming. Or I would have missed my race."

"Chicken," Kevin laughed at her.

"Trust me, I would have loved to have swum that year if I hadn't missed the sign up day, show the mega bitch a thing or two…"

"You need to let that go," Gwen sighed, spearing her fish with the small wooden fork.

"No way!" Steph was indignant. "Miserable bitch. Just cause she was held back a year to retake her GCSEs and I was five years younger and getting way better grades than her without trying. And my mother was single. She had this philosophy that you had to be an only child with both parents working in a higher industry to be considered 'cool'." She scowled at the rain outside. "Precious little perfect princess…_Felicity_ Woking."

Kevin choked on his soda. "What's her name?" he coughed.

Steph leant forward and thumped him on the back. "Felicity." She grinned fiercely. "She wasn't very popular among our particular group of friends. I wanted to cry, I laughed so hard when she failed her retakes. Take that, bitch!" she laughed.

"You'll have to let it go," Gwen said confidently. "Sooner or later."

"I don't hold grudges lightly." Steph argued back. "But final results day, A2, and the water and flour bomb…"

Ben had heard this story before, but it still made him laugh. "You said there was-"

"I haven't forgotten," Steph grinned an evil looking grin. "Kevin, you know the chemical combination you put in a toilet to make bubbles go everywhere?"

"Yeah…?" he smirked.

"Imagine ten times the recommended prankster amount and a trip wire with a bucket of whole grain flour with just the right amount of water in a bucket over head."

"You didn't." he scoffed.

"She did," Ben laughed.

"And my mate Kevs filmed it all." Steph laughed. "Put it up on You Tube but we had to take it down. Told you I know a million people called Kevin." She winked. "Popular name."

"I haven't given you enough credit." Kevin took another sip of soda. "You're a criminal master mind."

"No one ever suspected me." She smiled sweetly, eyes bright with humour. "Poor little Stephenie, the youngest in the year by far, guilty of attacking Felicity? Pfffft. Ha! I didn't appear in the film, so I didn't get caught. _And_, it was the last day we ever had to be at the school. We'd finished our compulsory education, what were they gonna do? _Expel _us?"

Gwen sighed loudly while the other three laughed. "It's not like _you're_ innocent." Ben reminded her.

"Oh?" Kevin inquired.

"What was that again?" Steph leant back, stretching her arms above her head. "You told me once and now I've forgotten."

"Gwen, you wanna tell the story?" Ben hoped she wouldn't, but she snapped at him.

"There's nothing to say! It wasn't even a prank."

"I bet it wasn't." Steph was exceedingly smug.

"Tell me," Kevin twisted in his seat to look back at Ben.

"Well, there's this girl who was in Gwen's class-"

"Bitch." Steph interjected.

Gwen glared at the dashboard, but didn't deny it.

"-Who kept on picking on her."

"No she didn't." Gwen grumbled.

"And Gwen made her chemistry experiment explode in her face."

"You're way off." She scoffed.

"So what did you do, little-miss-perfect?" Kevin smirked at her.

Oh dear, he was in for it now…

Steph and Ben exchanged glances as Gwen rounded on him.

"For your _information_, it was an experiment on alkali metals and she put way too much Lithium in the water and blew out a ceiling tile." She glared at him, and he laughed.

Ben coughed loudly into his smoothie, and Steph sniggered as quietly as she could. "Sure, because you told her to." Gwen still heard her, and turned to glare over her shoulder. "Sorry…" Steph mumbled, grinning quite unrepentantly. "So," she said once she was over her laughing fit. "Kevin, ever pulled a prank at school?"

_Oh dear…_Ben thought. This couldn't be good. As much as he hated to admit it, so far Gwen had been right. Still, Ben couldn't find it in him to trust Kevin completely. Not yet, at least.

"Booby trapped all the staplers in the teachers common room." Kevin told them casually. "I snuck into the Chemistry lab at lunch and made a chemical compound I read about on the web. Dusted it on the staplers, and the next day when ever someone used them it made a loud bang and-"

"Scarred them witless." Steph laughed. "I've seen that done on TV, it was hilarious."

"I took the principles stapler and suspended it in Jell-O." Ben remembered the look on the man's face.

"Bet he loved that," Steph was sniggering again. "Once I spent an entire tech lesson building a catapult out of a bottle cap, rubber bands, drawing pins and paper clips set on the bottom of a cork coaster. It was excellent in the lunch hall, no one ever suspected it. The teachers thought it was my practical course work for Design Technology."

"Did you work at all at school?" Kevin laughed.

It was at this point that Ben decided this was a good conversation.

"Erm…what's your definition of work again?" she asked innocently.

Then it hit him. "When we were ten I went upgrade and messed with Gwen's computer. I changed the auto correct functions in her word documents,"

"Oh, that's a classic!" Steph grinned.

Gwen sighed. "I wish you would grow up."

"A Level ICT," Steph said, leaning forward with her empty container. "Sitting in the small sectioned off room in the ICT suite. GCSE lesson going on in the bigger room." She smiled wickedly. "Teacher's off sick, cover teacher hasn't got a clue, everyone playing games instead of working, and one computer genius with a group of hyper friends."

"What did you do?" Kevin pressed, sounding as keen to hear about it as Ben felt.

"Right, he hacked into the master computer that the teacher uses, and used the control function on it to hack into the other computers. Now, some of the kids were playing this game called 'online slime'."

"Never heard of it." Kevin told her.

"Never played it," Steph pulled a face. "It's a random tennis game played with these things called slimes…anyways, we screwed around with the cursor so they kept loosing. They never knew it was us lot in the backroom! We told our teacher about it when he came back, and _he_ started doing the same thing to them when they were playing instead of working. And the best thing about it? My mate rigged our accounts so the teacher couldn't do it to us as well!" she gazed dreamily out the window. "The looks on those poor boys faces! Priceless!"

"You know what my brother did to one of his lecturers?" Gwen chipped in.

"Do tell," Steph was intrigued.

"He didn't like the guy much, so he took a screenshot of his background and saved it, then deleted all the shortcuts on the desktop and lowered the task bar and set the screen shot as the background. The lecturer couldn't work out why he couldn't access any of his files."

"Aw man! I wish I'd thought of that one!" Steph whined. "That's brilliant!"

They prattled on about practical jokes they had taken part in, and Steph went as far as to tell them every joke played _on_ her as well. Such things as changing her name tag just before the school open evening to 'Boadicea'. "It wasn't even right, her name was _Boudica_. Still good for a laugh though. The Lord Mayor's wife was there and she saw the tag! I died of embarrassment…!"

"Who the hell's that?" Kevin demanded.

"Back in the day, when Britannia was controlled by the Romans, the Warrior Queen of The Isles decided to stage an uprising, and she and her followers failed in a most epic fashion." Steph had a way with history, Ben thought to himself, she really did.

"What's the best one you've ever pulled on someone?" he asked.

"Hmm…" she considered for a moment. "My best friend, she's part Transmorphor too, Lupus. Yeah," she laughed at Ben and Kevin's shared expression. "Proper werewolf! Anyways, she looks like she's just walked out of Lord of The Rings, seriously, Galadriel look-alike. It's really creepy, I read the books before I meet her, and she's _exactly_ how I imagined her. So, since she was in on the Boudica prank, I paid her back by editing her photo so she had one of those delicate little crown things on her forehead, and changed her name on the tag and let her loose. I'm surprised she didn't work it out till the end of the evening, her reaction was rather comical to watch."

"I stand by what I said before," Kevin said over his shoulder. "Did you work at all?"

"That depends entirely on the context." She reasoned. Then she snorted into her drink. "Ah, those were the days! There was a midget who looked just like Elijah Wood from the Lord of The Rings films, and he was really good friends with her. One day we picked him up and carried him through the school dancing along and singing 'They're taking the Hobbits to Isengaurd!'. In charity week too, and they thought it was for money, so we ended up raising about a hundred and ten quid completely by accident!"

"At least it was for a good cause." Gwen sniffed. She didn't approve of the number of pranks they had collectively been a part of.

"He didn't mind!" Steph said vaguely. "We all got Headmaster's commendations for our 'effort'." She made quote marks in the air with her fingers. "Best half hour I ever wasted. Hey, if they ever do a charity drive around here we could do something like that!"

"That sounds like fun!" Ben couldn't wait for an excuse to go do it.

"No way," Kevin grumbled.

"Aww, c'mon! It'd be fun! Besides, we have no Hobbits available, we'd have to think of something else…"

"Do it," Ben wanted her to do her impression.

"What?"

"Go on!"

"Do what?"

"Your Gollum impression!"

Steph cleared her throat, and Gwen cringed away. She didn't like the ghastly coughing noises their friend made. Smeagol was much nicer to listen to, in her opinion.

Steph's hacking coughs of 'Gollum! GOLLUM!' caught Kevin by surprise, but when she started her ranting and raving about 'the fat hobbitses' even Gwen was laughing. "Preciousss…pringlesss…"

"Huh?" Kevin was rather clueless.

"On going joke," Steph whipped her iPhone out and started looking for a connection. Once she found it, she went on facebook and looked through her photos. "Here," she showed him, and Ben looked over his shoulder to see as well.

There were three girls and a boy sitting on a blanket in a garden, all pulling faces at the camera and sitting in odd positions. One girl with straight blonde hair had some Pringles shoved into her mouth with a very Gollumesque expression.

"Nice." Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"The next one's funny too," Steph nodded at the phone.

It was of the two Tolkien people she had talked about earlier. "That's my best friend Iorwen, and Philip 'Frodo' Barons."

She took her phone back and skimmed through the photos, stopping every so often to show them. Mostly Steph and her friends being idiots; one picture was of a building standing off on its own from another one, and the windows were filled with balloons. It was an April Fools prank the cleaning staff had pulled on the sixth form, Steph explained. The entire Jubilee block had been full of balloons. "It was like one of those ball pits, loads of fun."

"You never did any work." Gwen stated.

"Work hard, play hard." Steph grinned. "I never saw a difference between the two."

"Can you plan my eighteenth birthday?" Kevin asked.

"Hell yeah!" Steph's grin widened. "Might want to tell me now so I can get the stuff. The big one-eight is supposed to be memorable, right?"

"You're gonna go over board, Steph." Ben tried to calm her down.

"That's the point!" she griped. "What are friends for?" she held her hand out in between the two front seats.

Gwen smiled, and placed her hand on top of hers. Ben put his smoothie down and did like wise. Kevin just looked at their hands. Poor guy, Ben thought; it must be hard for him…maybe he should give the guy a break, he hadn't stabbed them in the back…

_Yet_.

"Peer pressure?" Steph asked playfully.

Kevin rolled his eyes, but placed his hand on top of theirs.

"So," Steph enthused as they all sat back. "If you want to prank someone get a huge truck load of Jelly and we can sort something out. I suspended my stepfather's car keys in the stuff one sunny April Fool's day. I was _very_ popular."

"I'll remember that one," Kevin promised.

Gwen turned and exchanged a look with Ben. They both smiled at each other; maybe working together as a team wouldn't be so difficult after all.

---

All in all, a fun day. Kevin drove them all home; still laughing at the party tomfoolery Steph was planning. Ben was kicked out first, head first to be exact, into the rain. Steph exited and fell into a rapidly growing puddle and left for the front door swearing in every language she knew (which were quite a few in number). Finally, when he dropped Gwen off, she smiled at him. Maybe he was forgiven for last night's joke?

Her smile became devious and he narrowed his eyes. "What did you do?"

"You're forgiven," She said in a sugary sweet voice, and ducked out into the rain, sprinting for the door.

The ten-minute drive home had him puzzled. When he parked and killed the engine, he saw a thin tube of glue and a hand written note on her seat.

He picked it up and read:

_This time._

Then he noticed his stereo had been glued shut, and none of the buttons would work. Except the Play/Pause button. He pressed it to see what happened.

Classical music filled the car.

Okay, if it were Ben, he'd have ripped his head off. If it were Steph, he'd have punched her arm but probably laughed it off. But it wasn't either of them, it was Gwen. Kevin couldn't work out if he was more pissed off or admiring of her prank. Then he saw that the CD holder was jammed shut with glue.

For now, he was pissed off.

Later, he'd be more admiring of her nerve and cunning.

But for now, he was pissed off.

---

**Okay, Gwen's prank I got from Top Gear, I saw it on TV and it made me laugh so I thought I'd throw it in here, hope you enjoyed it! And I don't own that joke, though I wish I did :(**

**I promise there will be more action coming up, but I felt random today and everything I wrote was random. I hope it brightened your day, cause it sure made me laugh. Seriously, find a search engine and type in 'office pranks' the stuff you will find is mind-bendingly witty, cunning, and insane. **

**And remember, please review! ;)**


	6. A Sign of Things to Come

**AN: blargh I'm not happy with how this one turned out, I waffled on way to much, and it's probably littered with typos because the radiator in my room packed up and I'm wearing gloves while typing. I learned this when I first started doing course work; typing and gloves don't mix. but frost bite, well....bites :S I like my fingers the way they are, on my hands. ANYWAY! I'm rambling! AGAIN.**

**I have NO idea when I'm next updating, you know, tis' the season and all that shizz, and I'm making a blanket for someone's present, and I'm not fnished, and it's Christmas in like 2 days :S I will try my utmost to get my act together, I swear! ;)**

**Oh yeah, and the title is uber random, I couldn't think of anything fitting, but I've hinted at a lot which I plan to do in the not too distant future in this fic ;) but you'll have to wait and see ;D**

**Well, enjoy!**

_**A sign of things to come**_

The dusk was gathering, the night drew in, and it was getting cold. Gwen was perched on the hood of Kevin's car, waiting patiently for Steph and Ben to hasten back with the food and drink. Kevin watched her from the corner of his eye, trying to look anywhere else but at her. She was reading one of the Twilight books, a very battered looking copy of the one with the weird red flower on the cover, and thoroughly absorbed by it.

Steph was down the road, getting some fish and chips, and Ben was waiting in the extensive line for smoothies. He wished they would hurry the hell up; it was bad enough Steph had bullied him into coming along anyway. She had her own stupid ride, for crying out loud! Granted, it was a rusty red jeep that fell to pieces if you so much as looked at it, but they didn't need _him_ to drive them round 24-7.

Gwen was either so into her book she didn't notice him, or she was ignoring him on purpose. Judging by the saddened look on her face, and the crease between her eyes that deepened with every paragraph, it was the book that kept her attention otherwise occupied. That made Kevin feel…very odd. What was so interesting about a book that kept her from noticing him? Stupid Vampires. Stupid Author. Stupid Ben and Steph for taking so long. Stupid Kevin for agreeing to this in the first place.

"What's so great about Twilight, anyway?" he demanded to know.

Gwen didn't respond, just kept right on reading like he didn't exist.

That hurt way more than it should do.

"Hello? Gwen!" he leant over and waved her hand between her nose and her book.

"Mmm?" she looked up with a slightly dazed expression. "Something wrong?"

"What's so great about those books?" he asked again, pointing at the one in her hands.

"What, Twilight?" she asked, slipping a bookmark in between the pages and closing it. "They're well written, and the character's are so relatable. Even Steph likes them."

Great…

"What's it even about?" he took it from her and stared at the blurb on the back. He read the small extract in red, before reading aloud, "_For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, They realize their troubles may be just beginning…_Passionate…riveting…deeply moving…compelling…what is this, poetry?!"

Gwen gently but firmly took the book back and smoothed the cover's dog-eared edges. "It's more than that." Her voice was icily polite.

"Sup!" Steph flounced over out of nowhere and sat herself down in the space between Kevin and Gwen. "Chips for all! I didn't get the fish because they've managed to run out."

"It _is_ Friday," Gwen pointed out, looking at the wrapped portions for hers.

"Here," Steph dropped the plain package onto her friends lap. "That's yours," she handed Kevin his without looking, and gave the one of the hood next to her a hard stare. "Wonder if Ben'll notice if I…"

"Don't. Even. _Think_. About it." Gwen said menacingly.

Steph laughed, and dug into her chips. "Perish the thought! What's that?"

"New Moon." Gwen held it up.

"Cool," she gave Gwen the thumbs up. "Haven't you read that like a zillion times before?"

A faint trace of red fanned her cheeks, and Steph seemed oblivious to it (her food cravings were at the forefront of her mind). "Only twice all the way through."

"Meh," Steph waved a hand vaguely in front of her. "Mel's friend from school used to go through and read her favourite parts over and over. Drove me insane when they all went on about it,"

"You like Twilight?" Kevin demanded.

"S'okay." She was unmoved by the passionate disbelief in his voice. "I prefer Terry Pratchett myself. Mel likes Robert Jordan, and her friends were all into…oh, whatshisface…Philip Pullman? You know, the guy everyone was saying 'Oooh he's a heretic, BURN THE WITCH!' when they made The Golden Compass. Crap film, if I do say so myself, had _nothing_ on the book."

Kevin tuned her out, preferring to watch Gwen instead. They went on about books they liked, disliked and hated, and how they compared to the films.

"Twilight's alright, but you get the nutcases that act as though it's the only thing in the world that matters." Steph pulled a face, making Gwen laugh.

"Yeah,"

"There's more to life than Edward Cullen!" she said dramatically. "Although," she held up her hands and looked apologetically at Kevin. "I have to admit, Taylor Launter looks better with his shirt off, but Robert Pattinson has a nicer face."

He was, to say the very, _very_ least, appalled by Steph's simple statement.

"You what?!"

"Honestly. Please don't kill me! That's just my opinion, I don't wanna sleep with them or anything, yeesh!" she shuddered at the thought. "It's eye candy, that's all. I dunno them personally."

Kevin snarled under his breath and glared at Ben who was now making his way over to them with the smoothies. "Minus ten respect points for that."

"Aw, c'mon!" Steph whined. "Is it a crime against humanity to take pleasure in how someone looks?" everyone, Ben included, stopped to stare at her statement. "What?" she said angrily, snatching her drink. "Ever heard of Psychology? Google it,"

"Isn't that what Edward Cullen says?" Ben asked, perching on Gwen's other side.

"No!" the girls said in unison.

"That's only in the film," Steph snapped.

"It wasn't in the book," Gwen added, miffed.

"Like I care," Ben grumbled.

Steph grinned. "Don't piss off female Twilight fans. It might be the last thing you ever do."

"What's so great about Edward Cullen, anyway?" Kevin asked, reaching for a smoothie. He swore Ben was trying to keep it out of his reach on purpose, but Steph scooped it up and handed it over wordlessly, apparently oblivious to the scowl Ben was now giving her.

"He's the guy every girl dreams of?" Ben sulked. "Everyone wants someone like him."

"I don't!" Steph said cheerfully.

"Why not?" Kevin asked. Stupid question, he knew that; but Steph had the mentality of a boy most of the time. She was bound to accidentally come up with some meaningly profound and insightful statement without realising it. She wouldn't know profound if it slapped her in the face. _Profanities_, on the other hand, were another matter entirely.

"Well," she paused for a moment to consider her answer. "He'd drive me insane, for a start. He's all like, 'omg I is well bad for Bella, I should go before I kill her!' and then, 'omg I can't live without her – oh no, now we's gonna get killed and its all mah fault and I can't get over the fact that she loves meh anyway',"

"That's not _quite_ how the plot line goes…" Gwen interjected.

"Pffft. So is: all the pair of them do is moan and mope about how they're not good enough for each other. I liked the bit with Victoria in Eclipse, now _there_ was some real action!"

"It's not an action movie," Gwen snapped. As she continued to speak, Steph made little hand puppets with her gloves and imitated her. "It's about their relationship, and how they all grow as characters, and some people take it way too seriously, and _stop doing that!_"

"Sorry," Steph mumbled, for once looking remorseful.

"I still don't see the point," Ben began.

"For God's sake!" Steph rounded on him.

"So…" Kevin began when Steph threw her smoothie at Ben, then ran for her life lest she be gutted like a fish. "What's so great about Edward Cullen?"

Gwen sighed, and turned her attention from the other two who were running across the road. "Because Bella's such a relatable character for teenaged girls, and because they want someone like Edward Cullen to be there for them. The thing is," she looked down at her book, evading his intense gaze, "Edward's perfect, but he's perfect for Bella. Their personalities gel together really well."

"So?" he pressed. Kevin didn't care if she even got to the point; he just wanted to listen to her voice. And her opinion on this topic, of course.

At least that was what he kept telling himself when he looked into her emerald eyes.

"So, my perfect partner would be different to him, because I'm not like Bella." Gwen refused to meet his gaze, still. "Like Steph said, I think he would drive me crazy. In a bad way," she added.

Kevin shrugged, "What's the whole team thing, anyway?"

"Team?" she looked up at him, frowning in confusion.

"The whole werewolf-vampire thing,"

"Oh! You mean Team Edward and Team Jacob?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Team Bella. I don't care which ever one's better, it's her choice."

Just then Ben and Steph descended upon them again, dripping with various fruit juices. "Let us never speak of this again," Steph said, trying to hide and not managing.

"Agreed." Ben tried to wring his hair out. "I can't believe your mom and step dad saw us.

"Gerald's gonna give me a stern talking to when I get home…"

"If you spent a little more time drinking your smoothies instead of _throwing_ them at each other, you wouldn't have that problem." Gwen said stiffly, going back to her chips.

"I hate it when she's right…" Ben muttered darkly.

"She's Gwen," Steph gave him the 'duh' look. "Of course she's right. And now I will eat this before I get the text message saying 'come home now _or else_'."

---

After the smoothie escapade, things calmed down considerably. Ben and Steph had a funny relationship; they claimed they were _frenemies_, and loved to hate each other. That was nonsense, and Gwen knew it; they loved messing around like this. They loved to argue even more, and to the point where everything lost it's meaning and ceased to matter anymore.

They debated the pros and cons of Twilight, nearly having another smoothie fight, and just winding each other up in general. Gwen tried to continue reading, and failed miserably.

It was the scene where Edward leaves Bella, and Gwen was a sucker for emotional moments. She had cried the first time she read this part, and even now it made her all choked up inside. Though that wasn't the reason why she failed to continue reading. It wasn't even the fact that Ben and Steph were raising their voices over which were better: werewolves or vampires? ("I say vampires!", "No, werewolves! Ben, seriously, you want a Twilight vampire go buy a bulk pack of glitter glue!", "Just cause you have a friend who's a werewolf…", "I have _many_ friends who are part _Lupus_, you idiot. _Do_ keep up, Watson!" and so on…"

It was an odd sensation, which took a while for her to locate. Sort of like…some force pressing against her, demanding her attention. When she finally decided to look up, she saw that Ben and Steph were silently staring each other down, scowling at each other, and Kevin was facing the opposite direction, grandly ignoring them all.

"Nuh-uh." Steph growled.

"Neeya-huh." Ben snapped back.

And so the tennis rally started.

As soon as Gwen went back to the heart-breaking scene in the book, the sensation came back. Looking out the corner of her eyes, she saw Steph, ever scowling, and just beyond her shoulder, Kevin was staring at her. The more she tried to ignore him, the harder it became to read. Finally, she dropped New Moon with a disgruntled sigh, and leaned back against the hood of the car. Steph leant over her to better get at Ben and they started arguing more heatedly. Good thing they had finished eating, or the chips would have been flying left right and centre. And possibly backwards and forwards and any other direction in between.

Gwen closed her eyes, but she still felt his gaze. Carefully, she opened her eyes just enough so that she could see, and sure enough, he was watching her.

He had the most curious expression on his face. He wasn't smirking, or scowling, or frowning, or anything. He looked…decidedly peaceful. Odd, considering he normally found it hilarious when Steph wound Ben up: anything to laugh at his expense.

"I'm going for another smoothie," Ben stated, standing up and stalking away.

"I don't trust you, you're up to something…" Steph ran after him.

Gwen didn't see, but she felt the weight of the car shift, and she guessed that Ben would be stalking away to lick his wounded pride after all the insults Steph unsubtly wove into her argument.

She feigned sleep, and it seemed to work. From behind her mostly closed eyelids, she could still see Kevin watching her. He looked content, like he was happy to stay where he was. Why was that? He always seemed so evasive, like he was trying to hide.

Not that Gwen was surprised. He had a million and one reasons to want to hide away behind that thick mental shell he wore. Ben had set Steph to evaluate him and report back, hoping to find some reason to not trust him. Steph being Steph, had shrugged, and told them that Kevin liked the same type of music as her, liked doing mechanical stuff and had a warped sense of humour like her. Not that Steph saw that deeply in people, and by no means was she shallow either. She just didn't pick up on the deep emotions.

When Steph and Ben came back – still arguing – she pretended to wake up, slowly sitting up straight and, sure enough, Kevin looked the other way again. Gwen resisted the urge to smile, and went back to pretending to read New Moon. The squabble droned on in the background, and Kevin still made those eyes at her behind her back. Gwen had never really liked people staring at her before, but…this felt different. It was comforting, to know that he was watching, keeping an eye out.

She wished there was someone she could talk to about it, but Ben was still edgy around Kevin and completely biast, and Steph was no better because she was about as emotionally aware as a dead and rotting wooden log. Her parents would most likely be narrow minded when it came to Kevin, seeing as he had been in prison and so on, so forth.

Was it so wrong that she felt safe with him? That she liked riding shotgun just so she could sit next to him, and enjoyed hanging out with him when they weren't running after DNAliens?

She liked him, a lot. Maybe too much, because she found that as the weeks dragged by, she wanted to more and more to be near him. And it was so painstakingly obvious that he liked her too! Exhibit A, turn you head ninety degrees to the left, I rest my case your honour.

Kevin made a show of not caring what people thought of him, but she had a feeling that underneath it all he was just as big a softie as Ben was. He just wouldn't let anyone in to see the person inside.

Perhaps he just needed a gentle nudge.

---

Ben and Steph ran off to refuel their drinks, and argument, leaving Kevin and Gwen behind. She was asleep, probably bored out of her mind by the other two, because Kevin sure was; Gwen was a good distraction from that.

He studied her face while he had the chance to do so unseen (Ben would kill him if he saw Kevin checking his cousin out). It was odd just how familiar she was to him now; the delicate structure of her bones, the angle of her nose, those full lips, the way her hair fell across her face, those bright green eyes that were closed to him now…and the way she made him feel poetic to the point where it hurt.

There went his man card.

Again.

How many times had he been thinking that recently? Too many.

Even if she was merely taking pity on him, it was nice to think that at least one of his teammates cared enough about him that way. Ben was…Ben, and a guy, and there were a million or two other reasons why they weren't the best of friends. Steph? Crazy Steph, always up for a bit of fun, even when she was the one being laughed at. Just yesterday she pranced into the workshop, put her foot down on a piece of thin plastic, and went flying. They laughed at her, and after she picked herself off the floor with a dazed expression on her face, she shook herself and laughed along with them. Still, she gave him no special treatment, other than the fact she didn't threaten to hang him by his ankles down a well like she would with Ben if it had been his fault the plastic had been loafing around. Steph and her wells…

It was hard to put into words, but he liked the way Gwen treated him.

As a kid, he had wanted desperately to be accepted, but had been spurned so many times to the point where he just stopped caring. Being released from the Null Void had given him another chance, a clean slate, and this time he worked hard to fit in. He should have known it wouldn't work; he could never be normal, it wasn't in his DNA. Stupid genetics…

But Gwen gave him special treatment, handled him differently to everyone else. Sure, Ben was family, and Steph practically was family as far as the Tennyson's were concerned, but even with Steph's stepbrothers, Tom and Dylan it was different. Dylan was so like Steph it wasn't even funny (they had more fights than she did with Ben, and _that_ was saying something) and Tom sat there, smiling and nodding and silently cursing his siblings, giving Gwen the occasional look that said 'here we bloody go…'

Gwen seemed to take more time for Kevin, and pay more attention, especially when Steph and Ben were fighting each other. It drove him crazy when she ignored him on purpose; he wanted to be the centre of attention wherever she was concerned, and he got wound up when she denied him.

Seriously, how did someone sleep through that? Those two were loud enough to wake the dead! And there she lay, still asleep, not reading that stupid vampire book.

_And_, the other two returned, and she woke up. Great.

Kevin averted his eyes and looked in the opposite direction. He got the feeling that if he threatened Gwen with Steph nearby, she might just fore fill her promise to gut him like a fish; from what he knew of her, when she was well and truly angry, you wanted to be at least 100 miles away from her to be on the safe side. Her friends and family came first, and Kevin liked living too much.

Irritatingly, the fight went on, and he tried inconspicuously to watch Gwen.

It grew ever darker, and they all piled into the car to go home. Steph tried to punch when they reached his house, and he fell out the door as a result. "Ha!" she called at him as he stalked up the driveway, shoulders hunched against her abuse. Gwen glared at her, and she shrugged. "Somehow, Gwen, I think he'll live."

"We could take a crowbar to him, and – ouch!" Gwen gave him an almighty dig in the ribs, glaring at him. "What?!"

"Say, now _there's_ an idea! But where do we find one that's strong enough to withstand that thick skull of his…?"

"Steph!" Gwen seemed appalled by the idea.

"Relax!" Steph leant forward and ruffled her friend's hair. "I wouldn't _really_,"

"I would," Kevin interjected, dodging Gwen's protesting elbow.

"Nah," Steph stretched out on the back seat. "Waste of time and resources." She looked up at the ceiling. "And rations." She added as an after thought.

"What about brain cells?" Kevin asked, smirking at Gwen's scowl. She glared out the window instead of at him, and he could still see her reflection in the glass.

"Well, he has half a brain cell," Steph said conversationally, "but I don't think that counts…"

The car was soundless then; Gwen fumed in silence, Kevin watched her, amused, and Steph remained thoughtfully quiet.

"Lemme get back to you on that one. I need to think of something witty."

"I'll be waiting," Kevin said patronisingly.

"Trust me," Steph grinned at him, "when I come up with one it will be so epically awesome and mind numbingly brilliant your mind will fail to wrap itself around it and subsequently implode."

"If you say so," he shook his head condescendingly. It was nice to have someone to have these sorts of conversations with, no one else seemed to understand or appreciate his particular brand of humour.

"You're both as bad as each other." Gwen muttered darkly.

Steph grinned, and hugged her from behind the seat with her abnormally long arms. "But you love us anyway,"

Kevin looked out the driver's window, not quite able to place the reason as to why his cheeks were burning.

Damnit…

---

**Meh. I didn't like it much, but still review and lemme know what you think!**

**Oh, and if I don't update soon, Merry Christmas everyone! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	7. Kevin's Big Score

**AN: urgh I feel bad :( I have exams when I go back to school, and they didn't look so close the other side of Christmas.........so after the minor panic attack was over I started revising and not writing this. It's a bit.....well, bit-y, if I'm honest; it doesn't flow well and I'm not happy with it, but a crap chapter's better than none at all I suppose...... I'm thinking of doing one for 'All That Glitters' but I dunno yet, I'll see what happens. Anyways, let me know what you think!**

**DISCLAIMER: so yeah :P besides the fact that I blatantly don't own Ben 10 Alien Force, I don't own the title, the films, songs, and other stuff in this except Steph xD and any other OCs**

**_Kevin's Big Score_**

Steph had been detailed to do baby sitting for the day with Mel, who was busy mixing her lotions and potions together in their room upstairs. So, Steph decided to give the kids free reign with the TV.

Biggest mistake of the century.

Kev wanted to watch Shrek, and the girls wanted to watch Hannah Montana. The fight abruptly ended when Ella hit Kev for pulling her hair, and Steph threatened to _call dad_ and not let them watch any TV full stop. Instead of letting them chose, she picked out an old Disney film at random, _The Little Mermaid_, and sat them down quietly to watch. She tinkered with some alien tech she'd borrowed from Kevin to see if she could make any use of it, sitting on the sofa while the kids lay spread eagled on the floor staring in rapt attentiveness at the screen.

The doorbell went, and Steph got up to answer it, probably the pizza delivery guy with their margaritas. She grabbed her wallet from the key box by the front door and opened it. "So that's seven dollars…" she said, digging for loose change.

"Steph," Ben pushed his way into the house.

"Huh? Since when did you get a job at the Pizza Place?" Steph teased.

"This is important!" Ben snapped.

"Sorry to barge in on you like this," Gwen said contritely, closing the door behind her.

Steph cocked her head to one side. Usually they did Alien business as a group; where was the fourth?

"Sup?" she asked.

Ben looked round and saw the three children in the living room eyeing them with curiosity. "Can we discuss this someplace else?" he asked.

"Go upstairs, I'll be there in a sec."

They nodded and ran up the staircase. Steph went into the front room and said, "Official Teenaged business being conducted here, _stay put_!" They all nodded, and Erin gulped. "'Kay, I'll be right back. Be good for ten minutes or no pizza," Far from playing mind games like Mel and Tom did, out right bribery was Steph's gambit when it came to the kids. She had always failed miserably at psychology in school.

When she arrived upstairs she found the Tennyson cousins sitting on the edge of Mel's bed as she stewed some leaves in her favourite cooking pot over a small electric heater. Steph flopped unceremoniously onto the floor in front of Ben and questioned, "Where's our partner in crime?" she meant it jokingly, but from the look on her friend's face, he didn't find it funny at all. "Sorry mate, didn't mean it like that, just-"

"He stole the Rust Bucket." Ben seethed.

"Oh." Steph said blankly. She really didn't know what to say to that.

"He tried to help us get it back, but the tech's been swiped." He sounded very sullen.

Steph looked to Gwen for a more balanced assessment.

"He stormed off in a temper, but Ben thinks it was just a show. I don't think he's working _against _us…" she trailed away, looking at Mel.

The Wiccan calmly tasted some of her broth, then threw a handful of sage leaves in and began stirring again. "I feel I lot of tension coming from you both," she addressed the two beside her on the bed. "Gwen, you're deeply concerned for Kevin's well being," Ben scowled at her. "And Ben, you're being head strong and stubborn."

"Now, I don't claim to be a good judge of character," Steph interjected, "but I don't think he'd make off with _the Rust Bucket_ unless he had a _really_ good reason, would he?"

Gwen smiled with gratitude at her, and Ben sighed loudly.

"Ben," Mel said gently. "I know it's hard to let go of the past, and I know you and Kevin haven't exactly always got on well together," Steph coughed rather loudly and innocently. "But maybe you should try to see beyond what happened today." Here she went with the mystical crap. _Again_. Steph rolled her eyes. Even if she could put a stop to Mel's uncanny abilities, she wouldn't; she wouldn't be Mel without them. "He could be trying to use the Rust Bucket to gain something to help you fight the DNAliens?"

"That _did_ cross my mind, but…" Ben shook his head. "I wish he'd tell us rather than just going off and doing it behind our backs. If he said what he was going to do, it wouldn't look so shifty."

"Ask him when we find him." Steph shrugged. Uh, _duh_. Didn't he see that one coming?

"That's why we came here," he turned to Steph. "We need you to help us go after him. You in?"

"Sure thing," she gave him the thumbs up. "Someone's gotta keep an eye on the terrors down there, though." she thumped the floor with her fist and nodded downwards.

"I'll do that," Mel dropped a linen cloth over the pot and stood up.

"Cheers," Steph grinned at her. "So, shall we go?"

"Can you keep an aerial track on him?" Ben asked.

Steph turned to Gwen. "Tell me where he is now and I'll fly over there. I have this," she got up and grabbed something from her desk on the other side of the room. "Kinda ironic, Kevin gave it to me," she caught an old look on Gwen's face as she spoke. Mel noticed too, but Ben was impatient to get going, so Steph ignored it. She wasn't good at dissecting expressions anyway. "Thought I'd like to tinker with it. This is a homing device," she raised the leg of her jeans and strapped the device around her ankle. "This'll track me anywhere from here to Mars and back. Hang onto it," she gave the hand held console to Ben. "Kay, we good to go?"

"Yeah, let's." Ben went to the staircase.

Steph sighed. "Let's, only let's take the short cut." She opened the skylight in the middle of the sloped ceiling and climbed out. "Try working smarter, not harder." The scraping of rubber on wood told her Ben was following. Once he was out of the way, Steph leant down and helped Gwen up onto the roof. "See ya later!" she called cheerfully to Mel, and prepared to jump off the roof. "Which direction?"

"North. A little to the east." Gwen told her.

"Right," Steph looked at the stars and worked out in her head where she needed to go. "That way," she turned round and launched herself off the roof, becoming a Phoenix before she could hit the ground.

---

Gwen wanted so badly for there to be a logical and not-evil reason for all this. With Steph and Mel's reasoning Ben seemed convinced there _was_ a good reason for this, but he was still hacked off with Kevin for going about it behind their backs.

They followed Steph's homing device as she circled Kevin's position, keeping close but far enough away so that they weren't caught. When the tracker told them Steph had become stationary, they closed in. She was perched on a large piece of scrape metal, in plain view of the world.

"What happened to subtle?" Ben demanded in a furious whisper.

"He went in there," Steph nodded to their right. "A legion of hobbits in red jump suits came as a welcoming committee."

"Is he alright?" Gwen asked anxiously.

"When I saw him, yeah. But I dunno about now. You two took your sweet time getting over here, it's been twenty minutes."

"Okay," Ben readied the Omnitrix. "Let's go in after him."

He became Big Chill and floated over in the direction Steph had pointed out to them. Gwen felt very odd inside, like some vital part of her was missing. When Kevin had rounded on first Ben, and then her, it felt like her stomach had suddenly disappeared, leaving a gaping chasm in her abdomen. When he turned and stalked off, her missing organs returned feeling as though they were filled with lead. She had felt heavy and slow as Ben dragged her over to Steph's, and as they now ran in after Kevin the load didn't lighten, but her determination strengthened her resolve. She ran after Ben, and heard the gust of air before she felt it against her face as Steph took off in pursuit as well.

---

Gwen didn't hear Ben's puns, or Steph's battle cry as she took out the minions. Her attention was focused on Kevin, even with the endless onslaught of these 'hobbits in jump suits' as her friend artfully put it. The moment the fight was over she turned to him, and felt an unfamiliar ache in her chest, right where her heart was beating frantically.

"Kevin!"

She ran down and skidded to a halt in front of him. Her powers made short work of the manacles holding him down, but once they were removed, he didn't even attempt to move. "You alright?" Gwen asked. She reached out to him impulsively and took his face in her hands.

Slowly, the crystal began to recede, until he was kneeling in front of her. His expression was drained, like he had no energy left, and there was an almost longing look in his obsidian eyes. He closed them, and she felt a sort of release from his gaze. Her heart thrummed excruciatingly in her chest, but the joy of him being safe from harm nullified the pain. And then he did something completely unexpected and out of character.

He lurched forward stiffly, probably from being in the same position for so long, and threw his arms around her shoulders, saying nothing.

Gwen like wise remained silent; she didn't feel the need to say anything. It may just have been the maternal instinct, something every female of any species felt, the need to protect someone close to you, but holding him in her arms, the aching in her chest was suddenly gone as though it had never been there. Slowly and carefully, she helped him to his feet.

"Take it easy," she cautioned.

He kept an arm round her shoulders for support, and looked her in the face. The resigned look on his face had gone, and was replaced with a peaceful smile; like he was just as happy to see her as she was to see him. The spell was broken when Steph landed heavily beside them and rubbed her beak in his hair, making an affectionate cooing noise at the back of her throat.

"You okay, mate?"

"I'm fine," he straightened himself up, and winced.

"Be careful," Gwen fretted.

"I think you'll live somehow." Steph sounded confident.

Gwen didn't pay much attention to the conversation that followed, except to note that Ben seemed genuinely relieved Kevin was okay, and that the cause of all this fuss was a holomessage left for them by Grandpa Max. Even that didn't gain her notice, which was surprising.

All she was aware of was Kevin, still leaning heavily against her for support. Steph fanned her wings out, so they were encircled in a halo of golden feathers; probably trying to block out the view of the room they were in. And then again, maybe not. They traipsed back to Kevin's car miles away, after deciding hanging round would not be a good idea.

Gwen felt serenely calm as Kevin and Steph started arguing about who would drive back. _No one_drove the car except Kevin. And Steph argued back that he was too tired to drive. In the end, Ben decided the fights out come by saying, "Look, if he's strong enough to argue he's fine to drive. Can we go home now?"

Steph merely glared at Ben for a moment before stalking over to the other side of the car and getting in. "Always against me…" she muttered darkly to herself.

---

The morning after the 'incident' (as Steph was calling it), Kevin meandered towards the garage after deciding to walk to Mr Smoothies and back. His stepfather lectured him and his little sister Crystal about being energy efficient, despite the fact that his own car was _really_high up the ecowarriors black list. Steph moaned loudly about getting told off for leaving lights on all over the place. ("It's not like I'm killing the planet on purpose! Stupid Dylan…")

Her jeep had been parked outside the workshop, and it had miraculously disappeared. _Where had she gone? _He mused to himself. When Kevin reached the open garage doors, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Gwen was dancing around the room; singing along to the radio Steph had left running.

"Don't walk away when I'm talking to you, this ain't no time for your bad attitude! Don't gimme, that face, when you know I'm really down for the chase, cause my hearts already in it, and I'm never gonna quit it, when you finally gonna get it, don't walk away!"

She was using a busted up wrench like a microphone, and stepping gracefully over the scattered tools on the floor that Kevin and Steph had deserted the other night. With the light coming in from the doors, catching her hair and making it light up, she looked beautiful. It was like his lungs had become a vacuum, leaving him momentarily breathless.

"Wassup!?" Steph swooped out of nowhere, clapping Kevin on the back and flouncing into the room, dumping her rucksack on the floor and diving into the junk pile. "Thanks for watching the garage for me, Gwen,"

Said girl's eyes were as wide as saucers, finally noticing Kevin was standing there. Gwen dropped the wrench into a toolbox with a clatter and skittered to the door. "See you later," she called to Steph.

"Sure thing," came the cheerful reply.

Gwen ran past Kevin and down the sidewalk as fast as she could, but before she was gone he noticed the distinct red flush on her cheeks.

Okay, sure, anyone could understand why he would feel embarrassed around Gwen, but how could she be embarrassed around him?! It wasn't possible, singing and dancing around the room? Apart from having the right body to show off on the dance floor, she had a gorgeous voice; things she shouldn't be ashamed of.

"What the hell?" Steph looked up from her spare engine parts. "Where'd she run off to?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. Hey I found this," he picked up a thruster from the table and threw it to her.

"Not that I'm overly religious," she said, tossing it from one hand to the other. "But isn't it sacrilege to suit up your ride in such a way?"

He laughed, and got to work on his engine, ignoring the swearing a cursing coming from Steph's corner.

"Stupid jeep." She snarled. "Stupid Ben for swanning off to see that stupid tennis match. Stupid Gwen for running away for no reason…"

"She's not stupid!" he snapped at her heatedly.

"Argh! I'm having a hissy fit over here, do you _mind_?!" she growled out. "I could take it out on you, if you like," her bent screwdriver looked lethal in her hands, and Kevin couldn't help the gulp that ran up and down his throat. "So shut up and lemme get on with it!"

They worked in relative silence, with the radio belting out traffic reports, news bulletins, and cheesy, obnoxious pop music, and Steph's constant stream of swearwords. Where was Kevin's music collection when he needed it?

When Steph's phone started playing loud heavy metal music she stomped over to answer, muttering, "If it's Ben asking for a lift home I'm gonna shove my hand so far down his throat I'll rip the label off his underpants."

"You'll want gloves for that," Kevin commented casually, tweaking the undercarriage of his car. "And bleach," he added thoughtfully.

"N'yello?" Steph said into the receiver. Her expression became deadpan. "Uh-huh. Y'uh-huh? Nuh-uh. Uh-huh Sure. Bye." She turned as Kevin wheeled himself out, and gave him an angelic smile. "Get me a pair of latex gloves and a gallon of bleach."

"Yessir!" he pretended to jump to his feet and go searching for the items.

"I'll be back," she said ominously, climbing through the missing window of her jeep. She started it up, and the engine gave a loud splutter before it died completely. "Or not, as the case maybe." She said bluntly, staring at the steering wheel in her hands, having parted company from the dashboard. "Now, I'm no professional, but that don't seem right…"

Kevin raised an eyebrow at her.

"I can't work out whether I am happy or pissed off about this. On the one hand," she gestured with the wheel in her right hand, "my jeep has yet again died on me. On the _other_ hand," she gesticulated with her left hand and cell phone, "now I can piss Ben on no end. Oh! What to do, what to do?" her grin became mischievous. "Kevin, my good man! Put the kettle on. I have a wonderful phone call to make,"

She proceeded to stretch out over the front seats, legs hanging out of the passenger window, head lolling against the pane of the driver's window.

"I love my life," she laughed, making it sound manic. "I need to see someone," she said brightly, dialling Ben's number. "Being round Ben's done my brain in. I need professional help."

---

**I added the last bit on that didn't happen in the episode, mainly because my godsisters were here the other day and I really regret buying them the Hannah Montana The Moive Soundtrack because I have not had a moments peace since. :S but still, watching them bounce around the kitchen inspired me to make Gwen do the same :D**

**SO! What d'ya think? Me, a big fat LAAAAMMMMEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! I will do better next time, promise! Anways, please drop me a review and let me know! Also, any suggestions for furture chapters are welcome, because I am rapidly running out of ideas that don't involve some sort of psycho babble from Steph because psychology has taken over my life this week! :S I hate writting useless essays about difining what a psychopath is and assorted rubbish :(**

**And also, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! May your 2010 be bright and shiny, and totally awesome! xxxx**


	8. All That Glitters

**AN: and I hope you had a great new years eve! :P cause my brain tried to implode cause I was baby sitting and the oldest kid argued for hours that she wanted to read the twilight saga and I said 'NO YOU'RE TOO YOUNG!' and we just fought over it for so long my brain became slush. Meh, :/ so yeah, I wrote this today, and i feel like I'm leaving you with filler chapter after filler chapter and not actually making anything up :( I feel bad.....**

**I am stuck for ideas, you got any ideas??? I could really use some. Any requests, of just throw them at me and I'll cobble something up, when I'm not revising, or playing guitar...because to keep the kids quiet I had to sit and play Yankee Doodle over and over again to keep them happy. Ain't life fun??? I tried playing Love Story and failed miserably because I haven't got the right music for it...I crucified that song .;; lol actually, that's an idea. Let's get the gang to kill some good songs! :D suggest some to me and I'll see what I can do! Guitar+alcohol+sugar=GOOD TIMES! :D**

**So yeah, me no own most of this material except my interpretation of it....**

_**All That Glitters**_

Two hours, and Ben was _still_watching that holomessage. Kevin was finding it incredibly funny to watch, but he kept getting distracted by a) Steph's coughing and moaning from her perch on the low wall surrounding a tree, and b) Gwen's absence. She should have been here by now, and she had declined the offer for a lift. Steph rode shotgun instead because her jeep was broken. Again.

She treated that junk heap the same way a devout Christian would treat the cross of Christ, not that Kevin knew much about religion. He had always treated that lesson as an extra art class and doodled all over his exercise book.

So, such a slow day. He was bored, and even Steph had forsaken him today. To be fair, she looked quite ill, which was really something for her since her body's immune system could cope with just about anything on Earth.

Footsteps on the sidewalk, and before he even looked up Kevin knew it was Gwen. He looked up, smirking, a brilliantly witty comment coming to the surface of his thoughts.

"You think we should be worried? He's been watching that thing for hours," he took a sip of his smoothie and looked over at Ben.

All was deadly quiet, except for Steph, who coughed loudly and painfully into silence, practically gagging on the air.

Kevin looked up and Gwen again. Wow, had his comment been that stupid? It hadn't sounds that stupid in his head…

"Problem?" he pressed.

"Why haven't you asked me out?" she asked innocently.

_That_ pulled him up short. "What!?" he spluttered. Where had that come from?

"We spend all of our time together, and you obviously like me." She stated.

Kevin stared at her wide eyed, before turning away and trying to laugh it off like it was something ridiculous. The only ridiculous thing about the situation was his voice, breaking at just the wrong moment to make his laugh sound high pitched. Damn adolescents!

"You do," she insisted, taking a few more steps forward. "I see you mooning at m when you think I'm not looking."

Crap! Had he been _that_ obvious?

"Mooning?" he asked scathingly, trying to hide his sudden panic. What should he do? He had no idea how to handle this situation! No one had ever sat down with him and talked about dating and relationships; that was the father's job, to educate his son, and since his real father wasn't around and Cain was a waste of rations, so he had never had _the conversation_.

"And I like you," she smiled, looking over her shoulder momentarily, before rounding on him again, "_most_ of the time. So I'm asking you again."

That left him reeling. Was she serious?

He wasn't sure what was more worrying; the fact that she deigned to take such an interest in a person like him, or that his mind was a complete and utter blank.

Steph began another round of hacking coughs behind them, and groaned again. She was acting like she was dieing, and Ben was still stuck in his own little world…and Kevin was floundering.

What does a guy say to that any way? Wounded ego, much. It's the man's job to insinuate a relationship, not the woman's!

"See, that's the thing," he pointed out his revelation before his mind caught up with his mouth. "You're asking _me_. A _guy_ does the asking."

"Yeah." She said scathingly, frowning at him. "When?"

"Don't push me," was his ingenious response.

That was low, using her disapproving expression as emotional blackmail. Why did his gut feel like it was tying itself into a Gordian knot when she gave him that look?

"_Don't push me_," she mimicked, giving him a hard stare before turning on her heel and walking away. She somehow remained graceful, even with her shoulders hunched and that oh-so-Steph-like stalk profile.

Crap! What the hell had he just done? Besides be a total idiot and a complete jerk.

Still, he was hacked off with her as well; he _hated_ being forced into things. Cain Dennis, his stepfather, has always tried to make Kevin something he wasn't, one of the many reasons why he lost his mind all those years ago. He was stubborn as the day was long in the North Pole during summer, which didn't help matters at all. She should have caught onto that by now…but as much as he was afraid to admit it, he had been a jerk to her.

In a bid to salvage his nerves, he cast caution to the winds and called over his shoulder, "Ben,"

Still in his own little world. Damn him…

"You know," he couldn't resist it, "my dog used to gnaw this spot on his butt over and over. That made us put a cone around his neck."

Ben remained emotionally detached as he stood up. They started planning (Ben did at least) to seek out the annoying little points of light on his badge's map, and Steph staggered over, announcing balefully, "I'm flying home, I think I'm coming down with something…"

"I thought you had an immune system that kicked any virus in the nuts?" Kevin asked, trying to be Mr Cynical outside, but inside was still upset with himself.

"Trust me," Ben said darkly, "if she thinks she should go home, she should go home. You've never seen her when she gets ill…"

"So?" Kevin asked as they walked to the car. "Can't be that bad."

"She acts like she's dieing," Ben pulled a face. "It's annoying.

"Bastard," she growled, and started coughing again. "Gwen? You got a tissue?"

Gwen was leaning against a lamppost, sifting through her bag. She ignored Ben and Kevin as she fished out a packet of tissues and gave them to Steph, who thanked her, and proceeded to blow her nose with a sound like a foghorn. When she was finished imitating a trumpet, she looked down, and wretched.

"That ain't healthy looking…" she muttered to herself.

Gwen's expression softened, and she said, "Steph, maybe you should go home and have Mel take a look at you. You look terrible."

"I feel it…" Steph sniffed, reaching for another tissue, chucking the used one into a conveniently placed bin.

"You need a lift?" Kevin called to her, knowing that if he didn't offer her, moment she was better she would collar him for being a bad friend or something equally stupid…

"Nah, I'll risk it and fly. Go…do whatever it is you were gonna do. I'll see ya round," she tottered piteously away from Gwen, swayed on the spot for a moment before becoming a phoenix in a flash of light, and labouring into the air with great difficulty.

"You coming?" Kevin asked Gwen once Ben was in the car and Steph had been swallowed up by the night.

She stood up straight, marched round to the passenger's side of the car, and got in the back seat. Great, the silent treatment.

---

This Mike guy seemed really nice, way more mature than Kevin, and better equipped to fight the DNAliens than they ever could be. He had taken her by the arm and led her over to one of the computers in another room, and she had felt a bit dizzy…probably coming down with the same thing as Steph. Great…

Gwen had felt a little bitchy when she looked up and saw the look on Kevin's face as Mike towed her by. His expression had been a cross between jealousy, uneasiness, and…he looked almost afraid, but she couldn't see why...unless it was because Michael was intimidating.

He was really concerned for those zombie girls, unlike Kevin who wanted to beat them up. Could he _be_ anymore childish?

When he rounded on her, saying, "Okay, what is up with you? You've been ignoring me since we got here, you were lousy in the fight, and now you're just acting goofy!"

That made her blood boil, and for a moment she wanted to slap him. "Why are you pretending to care?" she shot back. She'd learned years ago that punching boys to prove a point didn't work, and words were more cutting. Why had she even bothered with him in the first place?

Gwen took Mike's offered arm and walked away, pausing only to say over her shoulder, "Later,"

If he didn't care, then he wouldn't mind if she went on a date with someone else.

---

Steph stumped over to the box of tissues and carried it over to the study bunk. "Look, it's really sweet that you'd look out for Gwen like that, but Kevin, I'm not in a fit state to help, and I have no idea who the hell you're going on about." They were fighting over some guy she had never met, demanding her opinion, and she felt so ill she was beyond caring.

"Kevin's jealous because-!" Ben started, but Kevin punched his arm.

"I'm _not_ jealous!" he snarled.

Steph rolled her eyes. _Of course not_, she wanted to drawl, but her head was pounding from the tension headache, and she just wanted to sleep already! First Mum, then Mel, and now Kevin and Ben! One mind couldn't take that _and_space flu on at the same time, there was no room in her brain.

"Look, Kevin. Not to sound bitchy or anything, but I'm sick, I feel awful, I think I'm gonna puke, and I can't handle this!" she slunk into her bunk and curled up under the blanket, head stuck firmly under the pillow. "So go away before you catch it too."

"But-!" Kevin protested.

"Go search his house or something if you need proof…just leave me out of it. Unless you went to be covered in phlegm."

"EW!" Ben complained. "Gross, Steph!"

"Don't take it a miss if I tell you to sod off and die, but I feel sick so piss off." She grumbled.

"Don't mind her," Mel said serenely, just arrived in the room. "She acts like it's the end of the world every time she gets a sniffle."

"Liar…" she growled.

---

She had been so, so stupid.

Mike hadn't wanted anything but her energy; damn Kevin for being right. And bless him for coming to her rescue, though it hadn't gone so well as the guys seemed to have planned.

She could see them lying on the floor, out for the count, and about to be flattened by a portion of the ceiling. Gwen reached blindly for Mike's arm, hoping her sudden idea would work. She caught his arm and pulled herself to her feet, taking her energy back.

"What are you doing?!" he demanded.

"Coming to my senses," she told him.

The gold peeled away, and left him grey with exhaustion, but Gwen didn't care. She spun round, and saw Kevin coming to on the floor the other side of the room. "Kevin!" she ran to him, and knelt down by his side, taking his hand to check his pulse. His eyes opened, and he looked up at him with the same, peaceful expression he had worn when they rescued him from Vulcanus. He twisted his hand in hers and took it in his, smiling at her.

Yeah, she had been dum.

And bitchy, to run off with a guy she barely knew, when she knew Kevin wouldn't take advantage of her, or take her power, or let anything happen to her…

Okay, so he was annoyingly slow and needed a million hints to get it across, and infuriatingly so…so…Kevin. She guessed even if she could make him a more responsible, mature guy, like the person she had thought Mike was, she wouldn't want to.

Ben got up, grumbling to himself, and Gwen helped Kevin to his feet. Once he was standing steadily, he walked calmly over to Mike, and she exchanged a worried glance with Ben, wondering what he was going to do.

Kevin leant down, plucked Michael's badge from his belt, absorbing the metal and tensing his muscles so it broke in his hands. "You don't deserve this," he said calmly.

They hastily retreated to Kevin's car before Mike found the vigour to get up again, and Ben surprisingly apologised for it all. Kevin, unable to remain civil for more than a minute, said, "_If_ you're going to be a good leader, you're going to have to stop acting like a jerk."

"Kevin!" she scolded.

"No, Gwen, he's right, I'm a jerk," Ben agreed, looking repentant.

Gwen couldn't find it in her to fight, and looked at her hands instead.

"So Kevin," Ben added conversational. "When you're gonna ask Gwen out?"

It was deadly quiet as they drove down the road. Gwen bit her lip; Kevin had done remarkably well not to beat Mike up when he so easily could have, and even had the incentive, but Ben was really asking for trouble now.

Where was Steph when you needed her?

---

**If you guys out there have some ideas, I can haz plz???**

**I'm thinking of making them get drunk and playing singstar or something, cause that is the single most hilarious thing you could ever watch (I've been there and DAMN people are so funny! xD)**

**And please don't forget to review! ;) and I hope 2010 brings you all the best! xxx**


	9. DVD Night

**AN: aaaaaaaaaand I spent way too long on this and did no revison what so ever xD I always manage to bluff my way through exams so yeah.........**

**and yeah, this was way longer than I anticipated, and mostly inspired by dvd nights I have had with my friends in the past, and although they seem moronic and stupid (which is us in a nut shell) it was the funniest thing ever when it actually happened xD I hopes you enjoy!!!**

**Also, a big thanks to all who reviewed! My email won't open right now so I can't remember who said who but I tried to squash everyone's ideas into this chapter ;) and imsoboredidk, i didn't actually see your music request till after I wrote the chapter, so I will work it into the next one ;) and someone said something about hannah montana; yeah, i used to think it was okay, but i have seen the light, and wish to not touch it was a barge pole ever again *-shudders-* after the fifth time it starts getting annoying.....after 100th time you start wanting to blow stuff up. :D lol**

**_DVD Night_**

"Hey, Ben!" Steph crowed cheerfully, dodging several toolboxes to reach the door of the garage.

"Something up?" he asked blankly.

"My mum suggested having a DVD night since we've all been good lil'Plumber Kids and not got ourselves killed this week!" She did so love DVD nights! The best had been when Tom and Dylan had brought all their College mates round and sat down to watch Monty Python.

"Cool!" Ben grinned. "Should I bring anything?"

"What films you got?"

They chatted about various films, and food they should sneak passed her mother, and Steph tried her best to pull Kevin into the conversation. He ignored her mostly, so Steph gave up.

Gwen arrived not long after, and sat down on the one chair by the table, and pulled out a book. Steph rolled her eyes and Gwen sat stiffly with her nose buried between the pages, refusing to look at her.

"Hey, Gwen?"

"What?" she asked in a bored voice.

Ben and Kevin snickered, and she glared – not at Ben, but at Kevin.

"I'm having a DVD night and a general 'piss-ball around till the sun comes up'. You wanna come?"

"When?" she asked, looking intently into her book again.

"Tomorrow night?"

"Sure."

"Woo!" Steph pumped her fist into the air. "I'm a cheap skate so if you could all bring something to eat? My mum will only fund us for the films…"

"We could make a cake," Ben began.

"Yeah!" Steph grinned. "Come round my house before hand and we can make one! Gerald has this awesome recipe for walnut cake, and – oh crap! Kevin?"

"What?" he sounded as bored as Gwen. Killjoys…

"You allergic to anything? Only I don't want to put nuts in a cake and find I killed you."

"Nope."

"Cool," she gave him the thumbs up. "So!" she clapped her hands together, dropping the wrench she had been holding. "What movies you wanna watch?"

---

Not long after Ben and Steph went off to get some smoothies, Kevin got up from his spot under his car and perched on the table near Gwen. She sighed, slid a bookmark in-between the pages. He must be at least as sick as she was with those two making all the decisions, but she knew the rate they were going at that she would never get a word in.

"Something up?" she asked.

"The sky," he said, gazing at the opposite wall. "My blood pressure," Gwen giggled. "And Ben's cholesterol."

"Every hero has their weakness," she said fairly. "If Mr Smoothie's closed down he'd be heart broken.

Kevin made a noise that sounded like 'Meh…'

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, before Gwen began to speak – just as Kevin opened his mouth to do the same. They both laughed it off, and he gestured for her to continue.

"You bringing anything?"

"Dunno," he looked at the ceiling. "I'm not allowed in the kitchen at home."

Gwen was bursting with curiosity, but she held her tongue. Pushing him didn't help matters…

"My mom makes really good cupcakes," she chatted away. "I could make some with her tonight…"

"My mom makes Brownies," he said suddenly. "I could probably ask her to make some."

Gwen looked up in surprise; he'd never ventured any information about his family life before, at least not to her. Ben? Yeah right, that would be the day, when Kevin spills his guts to Ben. And Steph was…just sort of _there_, she never cared about that sort of thing. Could you understand her humour, put up with her nonsense, withstand a wrestling match from time to time, and swear till the cows came home? If yes, then you make the perfect friend for her. She wouldn't stop and ask such a deep question without being poked first. Multiple times. Maybe even a slap or two for good measure.

"Do…" she couldn't go on.

Kevin gave her a questioning look, and she took a deep breath.

"Do you live with your mother?"

"Yeah. The other side of town," he gestured vaguely toward the doors. "She work's at the Doctor's practise near the Industrial District. My little sister goes to the Primary school near Steph's house."

"Oh, I know the one,"

"Yeah." He smiled to himself. "She loves it there."

"And…your father?"

Kevin's face hardened, and he looked away. "Not around." Was all he said.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked…"

"No!" he spun round to face her again. "It's fine, just…" he cast around for a reason, then shrugged. "It's a bit of a sore topic at home. My Stepfather doesn't like me much, and my mom goes on about how much I look like my real dad, and Cain hates it."

Gwen stared at him with wise eyes. She hadn't anticipated that he would come out with all of this in one go, expecting to have to sift through all the subtle clues and piece it all together. Well, that saved a lot of time.

"You live with them?"

"Got no where else to go. Unless I wanna sleep in the car," he nodded at his ride. "I did that once," he added thoughtfully, "to see if I could. It killed my neck, so I decided not to." He looked up at her and grinned. "So I moved into the basement."

Gwen laughed, she just couldn't help it. "That sounds…so…so…"

"What?" he looked blankly at her, like he couldn't understand what was so hilarious.

"So typical!" she kept laughing. "Like some tortured teenager who says 'You don't understand me, I'm leaving!' the packs up and invades the basement."

"Actually, he wanted to clear the junk out down there, and there's a lot of stuff my mom kept from years ago. He had a huge row with her because he found an old guitar case and was gonna chuck it, but she wanted to keep it. She gave it to me and said to hang on to it, and then Cain turned round and said if it was my dad's junk down there, I should stay down there too. He didn't think I'd live down there, but I do now."

"Live?"

"There's a small shower room there. And I have an electric kettle and a toaster." He shrugged. "What more does a guy need?"

Human company. Though Gwen didn't say that out loud.

"So, the guitar case…?"

"It was my dad's. It's the only thing I have of his." Kevin's expression was so hard to read, Gwen couldn't work out how he felt on the matter.

"What happened?" she asked in a small voice.

He shrugged dramatically, saying, "Same as Steph's story. Reported missing in action, and never heard anything since." He was off hand about it, but Gwen could see in his eyes that it bothered him.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," she put in.

"Thanks," he didn't meet her eyes, but she could see he was grateful. "Not like it matter's anyway," he said, briskly steering them away from the topic. "Cain wanted me to be the 'perfect son', and I'm far from perfect."

Gwen frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

"Duh! Got sent to the Null Void," he started counting on his fingers. "Deal with illegal tech, out till the small hours of the morning, never home for dinner, never turn in any homework assignments, and I play the guitar."

"What?" That made no sense. "I get the other stuff, but what bad about the guitar?"

"He always wanted me to play the piano," Kevin pulled a face. "I hated it. I used to have my own guitar, but it kinda got broken."

Gwen wasn't sure if she wanted to know _how_ it ended up broken, so instead she asked, "You do grades?"

"Nah, I play for the hell of it. Just cause I can, you know?"

That sure sounded like typical Kevin…

"You play often?"

"As much as I can," he raised his left hand and showed her his fingertips; the fingerprints weren't there, just smooth, thick skin. He laughed and said, "Trying to take my finger prints for record keeping was a nightmare, they thought I did in on purpose, burned my fingers or something stupid. No one believed me it was from playing guitar."

Gwen gave him her best sarcastic look. "I wouldn't put it past you to try,"

He looked really hurt. "I'm not masochistic!"

"I didn't say you were," she laughed at his expression.

He looked mortally offended now, and just as Ben and Steph returned, too. He slid back to his work, and the other two didn't even notice as they handed out drinks and food, and ate with great gusto.

"Alien quadrilogy?" Ben asked.

"Hell no! My mum would kill me if we put that on; Erin, Ella and Kev have this annoying habit of appearing whenever Dylan and I put that film on, and Gerald threatened to hang me by my ankles over the pond and leave me there if we did that again."

"What happened?" Ben was mystified.

"Kev walked in just as the chest burst happened, and scared him witless. I had to sit up with him all night watching Winnie The Pooh to calm him down."

Kevin laughed, over his sulk. "That is quite funny though,"

"Yeah, so cheesy!" Steph grinned.

"It looks like a worm on a pole, and they're just moving it across the screen," Ben commented.

"Aw, Mel had some friends round once, and we made them sit and watch it with us," Steph held up her hands for silence, and gestured grandly with her hands. "One threw up," she waited for the boys to stop laughing. "The other was traumatised, and the third thought it was the best thing since sliced bread."

"When the alien zooms across the table," Kevin motioned with his hands over the hood of his car.

"NNNEEEEEOOOOOOOMMMM!" Ben made the same motion over thin air.

"Twas hilarious," Steph smiled serenely and nodded.

Gwen rolled her eyes and went back to her book, pausing to scoff down some chips. "Boys."

"Err, excuse me Gwen," Steph addressed her as she would a teacher at school. "I would like to draw your attention to the fact that _I_ have two X chromosomes, these two have a have two X chromosomes, these two have a chromosome, and while their reproductive organs are on the outside of the body," she gestured lewdly, making the guys fall over laughing, "the last time I checked, mine were _inside_ my body. So I'd really appreciate it if you didn't lump me with the male, yeah? I'm a _lady_."

"You sure don't act like it," Gwen muttered darkly.

"Sorry to annoy you," Steph beamed. "You'll bring those cupcakes tomorrow, won't you?"

"Maybe," Gwen smirked to herself.

Steph and Ben whined in unison. "That's not fair!"

And, and how heart broken they were by the thought!

---

Kevin kicked the front door open, thinking to himself about the DVD night tomorrow. "Who's that?" his mother called from the kitchen.

"Me," he called back absently.

"Kevin!" Crystal ran from the living room and jumped on him.

She was a tiny little thing, with long black hair and blue eyes. Cain always said she took after him ("She has my eyes,") when actually she looked more like Kevin's Grandmother. He, of course, had his father's dark eyes, so Cain didn't like it.

"Hey squirt," he said absently, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. She squealed, and he marched into the kitchen. "Hey mom, I have a question,"

"No more metal music," she said over the boiling water at the stove.

"Nah. Steph's having a sort of DVD night tomorrow,"

"Oh, that sounds like fun!" her raven black hair was tied into a messy ponytail, and falling into her eyes, which were hazel coloured. "Do you need to be picked up? Dropped off?"

He rolled his eyes. "I have a car, mom,"

"Cause he's a big kid!" Crystal giggled.

Kevin threw her further over his shoulder, so she hung down his back, screaming.

"Yeah, and she said bring food cause she's lazy."

She gave him a meaningful look. "Brownie time?"

"Yup,"

"Great!" she was way to enthusiastic. "We can get down to it after dinner, and Kevin," she became stern, "no messing around in the kitchen. Take your sister to the living room."

"MOM!" Crystal screeched.

Kevin walked into the living room and dumped her on the sofa. "Watch TV!" she brandished the remote at him.

"No!" he imitated her voice. "Cause I hate Disney!"

She launched herself at him, and he good-naturedly bore the humiliation of being beat up by his younger sister. Sadly, Cain walked in just as he was holding her upside-down, and thundered, "Don't hold her like that!"

Kevin glared at him, and carefully dumped her on the sofa before stalking out the door. "Wait!" Crystal ran after him. "Kevin! Come back! That was fun!"

He ignored her and went to his room in the basement. There wasn't much to do down here, since he really wanted to watch TV and his one didn't pick up any channels; it was only good for console games, and he didn't feel like Halo…

He went to his computer and switched it on, picking up a note pad and doodling a random flower on the corner of the top page while he waited. Once it was on, he check his email, and saw Steph had dropped him a message.

_hey guys!_

_just bartered the game cube off dyl and got sing star off the twins, i hope you guys like ABBA! ;)_

_if you wana stay the night there's plenty of room if you don't mind the floor, and i got us muppet treasure island! ;) lovely and cheesy_

_btw this is forwarded to everyone, ben: swing by bout midday tomoz and we'll start the cake :D BRING CHOCOLATE!_

_lots o'luv, Steph xxx_

Someone clanged the hammer upstairs against the copper piping (that ran through the basement) as a summons, and Kevin mooched upstairs to the dining room. Crystal chatted away animatedly about her day, and all the things she had done at her friend's house. Cain was silent as he ate, ignoring the rest of them, and Kevin couldn't resist winding him up.

"So mom, when can we start on the brownies?"

Cain's head snapped up at this. "What?" he said sharply. "Crystal's diabetic, you know that."

"Kevin's going to a friend's house tomorrow for…for…what was it called again, honey?"

"DVD night," he said through a mouthful of pasta.

Cain have him a disapproving glare, and Crystal giggled.

"Well, once we've washed up, we can start on them."

"Can I help?" Crystal asked, practically begging.

After Cain forbade her from helping and she ran off to her room to amuse herself, still rather upset by the proceedings. Kevin chucked the dishes in the dishwasher, and his mother set out the ingredients for brownies. It was rare that they ever did anything together like this, and it felt nice to do something that was almost normal.

---

Gwen knocked on the door, and Tom opened it. "Heye," he gave her a quick hug before running off to keep the younger kids in check. "They're in the kitchen!"

She walked in and saw the full scale of disaster.

Steph and Ben were wrestling each other over the mixing bowl, both covered in flour and egg and an open pot of chocolate spread had been tipped here, there and everywhere.

"Guys!" she shouted to get their attention.

"Wait a sec!" Steph called.

The moments trickled by, and then the egg timer started ringing.

They rushed to the oven and pulled the cake trays out. "Woo!"

"Look at that!" Ben said, poking the sponge.

"Here," Steph cleared a space for it and dumped them on a wire rack. "So while that's cooling, we can have some of this," she took a bottle of lemonade and poured out three glasses. "Gwen?"

"Thanks," she said with a smile. "So, where's Kevin?"

"Not here yet," Ben said, mopping up spilt egg white from the counter.

There was a knock at the door, and Steph bounded off to answer it.

"Speak of the devil!" she called, and when she entered the kitchen, Kevin was with her. "Gangs all here! May the cheese fest begin!"

Up in the attic room, Ben and Steph had set up the movie, and they all piled onto the sofa to watch. As with the last time they had watched a film together it had been hilarious, and this was no different.

Gwen handed out her cupcakes, and Kevin passed a box of brownies to her.

"Oh my God!" Steph said after she had taken a bite. "Kevin, these are awesome!"

With sugar and those two, it wasn't long before the jokes started.

"Jim looks and sounds like a girl," Ben said, pointing at the hero of the story.

"Sounds like this guy I knew at school. His voice didn't break till he was nearly seventeen. Proper choirboy! Music teacher's pet," Steph snarled.

Gwen nearly choked on her lemonade as Ben and Steph started singing along to the second song, "Sailing on the big blue wet thing!" Steph affected the accent perfectly in sync with the puppet on the screen.

They paused briefly to run down and finish the cake off.

Tom came in, as they were about to spread chocolate on the top, holding a jar of white spread. "Hey guys, my dad just dropped this off, he had to run to a meeting."

"Aw!" Steph bounced up and took it from her brother with a bear hug. "Text him and say he's awesome!" she cackled with glee as she mixed it with the milk chocolate to form a marbled effect.

"Wow, that looks amazing!" Gwen said as Ben carried it upstairs as though it were a holy relic.

"Almost too good to eat," Kevin ventured.

"_Almost_," Steph agreed.

"But not quite," Gwen rolled her eyes and smiled.

"C'mon! The next song's awesome!" Ben called.

They refuelled their drinks, cut the cake, and munched away as the plot thickened before them. Steph and Ben actually got up and danced around the room to the _Cabin Fever_ song. The best line was '_I've got cabin fever I think I've lost my grip I'd like to get my hands on whoever wrote this script'_ in Gwen's opinion, but the other's kept on quoting the phrase, _'Cabin fever has ravaged all aboard  
This once proud vessel has become a floating psycho ward'_.

"You have to love all the old movies," Steph pretended to wipe away a tear. "God Bless them!"

The warrior pigs led by 'Smolly's' girlfriend had them in stitches. Boom Sha-Kal-A-Kal was another one that made them laugh. "I'd so laugh if we went on a mission and met a race of pigs that started singing that song!" Steph managed to say before she had no air left in her lungs.

Right at the end, Steph ducked out for a moment and return with a battered old guitar and perched on the arm of the sofa. She strummed away to the song with the ending credits, singing. Gwen rolled her eyes again, this time as Steph and Ben swayed in time to the music. Very Jamaican.

"Now what?" Kevin asked as the credits ended and the screen went blank.

Ben and Steph sang a song about the 'boom-boom sticks' they had made up as kids.

"Sing Star!" Steph crowed, and set it up.

Gwen didn't know what the group would do without her; brusque words, bruised shoulders, hyper fits, and sore throats by the end of the evening at this rate. She had a way of glossing things over, and the constant stream of spats between her and the guys kept them from really going at each other in a fit of temper.

"Toniiiiiight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time. I feel aliiiiiiiiiive! And the wooooooorld, turn it inside ooouuuuut, yeah,"

Downstairs somewhere Dylan was imitating a wolf howl in their general direction. Steph liked to play guitar along to the game, even when she didn't know, she just made it up, and looked like an idiot in the process which made them all laugh.

Then they played a game that Ben and Steph loved. They each had a turn with the guitar and had to sing a song. Gwen couldn't play, but she knew a few simple chords and strummed four to a bar; C, G, and D7, the only ones Steph had got her to learn.

Ben went first, with a rousing round of Yankee Doodle, and Steph mumbled the words, looking thoroughly lost after the word 'macaroni'. Steph tried and failed to sing 'On My Way', getting hopelessly lost with her picking before thrusting the guitar into Gwen's arms.

"You do it," she snarled.

She strummed for about eight counts before she passed it to Kevin, pulling a face. He succeeded in playing Steph's song, and they all joined in singing and whistling. And the Ben announced he was thirsty, and dragged Kevin downstairs with him.

"Oh Gweeeennnnn!" Steph flung a book in her face.

She took a look, and saw it was a battered copy of Taylor Swift songs. "Where did you get this?"

"Mel's friend leant it to me and I sort of forgot to give it back," she grinned, "here," she started playing a familiar tune. "I'll do the chords,"

When the guys came upstairs again, they were greeted to the sight of Steph and Gwen capering around the room, using a hairbrush as a microphone, singing _You Belong With Me_.

---

Kevin wasn't sure how he had lived before he met Steph. The madness was something you got used to after the first five minutes, and he was grateful that she got Gwen going as well. Somehow, under more strict circumstances, he didn't think Gwen would be dancing around the room like that. She looked so natural, relaxed, and happy. When they finished their song, Ben demanded that Steph play some mega cheesy pieces, and she complied with a roll of her eyes.

Once they managed to exhaust that too, they broke out the Game Cube and played Super Smash Brothers, which Gwen hated. The three of them happily wasted a few hours killing each other; Ben and Kevin as Roy, Ben green, Kevin blue, and Steph alternating between Link and Zelda in red. "Random time!" Steph shouted, and they chose random characters, battle conditions, and arenas. The best fight was the last one; the previous battle they had been fighting on slow-mo, and this one they were on fast mode, which made it impossible to play. Ben was Kirby, Kevin was Princess Peach, and Steph was Picachu. It was very interesting to see who would freak out first.

Ben went shooting off to kill Kevin, and went straight off the edge into oblivion. Kevin jumped and nearly went off the map, and Steph dithered in the bottom corner before falling off.

"Oh my god!" she said angrily. "Stupid game,"

They quit after that because Gwen was glaring at them. And it was gone midnight by that point. How the time had slipped by so quickly he would never know.

Steph got out some airbeds and threw them onto the floor with the beanbags. She opted to sleep there with them instead of in her comfy bunk. "Sleeping on the floor is good for you!" she said with a grin, grabbing her pillow. "Good thing Mel's not here tonight, she would've killed us by now."

Gwen took the sofa, and the others fell into their sleeping bags. "G'night," Steph yawned, suddenly exhausted.

They all muttered a similar response and feel asleep.

---

Gwen had drifted off at some point, but she woke up again and it was still dark outside. Steph was curled up like a cat on one of the beanbags, and Ben was spread-eagled on his face. Kevin's spot was empty, so she sat up to see if he was in the room. The bathroom door was open, and there was no light from it, or from the stairwell…

Then she noticed the open skylight just before she heard the guitar playing.

She carefully got up and picked her way to the window, cautiously avoiding Ben and Steph in the process. Standing directly underneath the window she listened, the heard Kevin's voice and she sighed with relief.

"_I'm sorry for the person I became._

_I'm sorry that it took so long for me to change._

_I'm ready to be sure I never become that way again_

_'Cause who I am hates who I've been._

_Who I am hates who I've been."_

As quietly as she could, Gwen climbed through the skylight and onto the roof. He sat there, strumming away, lost in his own little world, absorbed by the music. She tried, and failed, to stay quiet, because she managed to trip and fall face first onto the tiles.

"Ouch!"

"Gwen?!" his tone was some where between alarm, concern, and irritation. She felt a pair of hands on her arms, and looked up only to find his face was just a few inches from hers. "You okay?" he asked, helping her to stand up on the slanting roof.

"Yeah, just wondered where you were." She mumbled, feeling stupid.

"Just playing," he gestured and shrugged.

Steph's battered old guitar that had once been Gerald's was sitting on the one flat portion of the roof next to the chimneystack, looking forlorn and forgotten. "I know, I heard you," she shuffled round him and perched on the edge of the platform. "You're a good singer," she added with a smile.

"Nah," he scratched the back of his neck and tried not to look pleased. "Just something I do…"

"And you do it well," she told him.

Kevin shrugged, and climbed back up to his roost and picked up the guitar automatically, and then he just sat there staring at it.

"Go on," she encouraged.

"I don't normally play in front of people," he mumbled.

"You played earlier," she pointed out.

He threw her the most sarcastic look he could manage before picking it up and striking a chord. It was a soft tune, one she didn't recognise, but it was soothing to listen to. So they just sat there, quite comfortable despite the chill of the night air and the hard surface they were sitting on.

It was odd how content she felt, just sitting here next to Kevin. They still didn't know each other _that_well, but it felt like this was becoming a routine already. Ever since the Morningstar escapade, she had noticed Kevin following her like a shadow whenever they all got in the car and drove off somewhere. Ben was accusing him of being a stalker, even thought he would be eternally grateful to him for saving Gwen. Far from it; she actually liked the fact he was following her, it made her feel safe knowing he had her back in case she went and did something recklessly stupid again. She must have fallen asleep again, because the next thing she knew, she was being carried back to the sofa and the blanket was thrown over her.

Gwen would have said something, but she was just too sleepy to do more than yawn.

After what again felt like seconds, the sun was shining through the window and someone was calling about breakfast. Slowly, Gwen sat up and looked around the room. Ben was snoring, Kevin was feigning sleep, and Steph was trying to disentangle herself from her sleeping bag. "Bloody zips…" she grumbled, yawning widely. "I hate mornings…"

"Food is on the table," Mel said quietly from the stair well.

"Where the bloody hell did you come from?" Steph was suddenly wide-awake and alert in her quest for knowledge…and in the process rolled into Kevin and got a dig in the ribs. "OW!" she aimed a punch at his head. "That was my kidney you bastard! I only got one of'em!"

"Meh," he buried himself beneath the blanket and ignored her.

"Argh!" she pounced.

And that was how the first fight of the day started, when they started grappling with each other and ended up squashing Ben, who lashed out as well.

Mel sat calmly on the arm of the sofa, waiting for things to die down, with a rather amused expression on her face. "This is why we let the ladies sleep on the sofa." She said conversationally to Gwen.

---

**I think I waffled off there on some tangent into the sunset, so I apologise if I am annoying you :P lol I can't for the life of me remember who but I was given an interesting sub story on Kevin to chew on. That was really good, oh reviewer I cannot remember the name of ;) actually, I have a little story already, and hoping at somepoint to drag his daddy into it, but I has to get there first xD**

**I dunno! Gwevin; angst or fluff? let's have a vote! ;) and I don't think I'll be rewriting all the episodes like I have been doing, it's taking way too long. I might do What Little Girls Are Made Of, if I get round to it. I won't be posting probably until late next week cause I have exams to prepare for and I don't want my laptop conviscated again .;;**

**So I bid you Adios! Until I next find a moment to sit and write ;)**

**xxxx**


	10. Alien Angst

**AN: argh! :S too many reviewers to name them all or most of the chapter will be just an author's note!!! I would like to say a HUGE thank you to you all ;) aww it's nice to know I brightened up someone's day, even if they are on the other side of the world ;) and sorry if I killed anybody :S I appear to making sore throats wherever I go off on a tangent because you laugh so much xD yeah, did you guys expect a DVD night to be just a movie??? HA! You say you thought it would be ordinary? You should see me and my mates, that was tame compared to the shizz I do in real life :D the worst was we stayed up till 4am and then I woke up at 8am and couldn't sleep xD and we all fell asleep with our make up on so we had major panda eyes :P lol maybe I should dove tail that in somewhere, it would be funny :)**

**WOO! Smash Bros for the win! xD I should so totally do that again at some point. And yeah, Halo, hmm……….first time I played it was the last time. I shot my team mate in the back under friendly fire and then the flood ate my brain, so I sort of said 'stuff this!'……**

**I'm rambling, again. -_-;; I can't think of any action! :S Also, someone (sorry can't remember who TOO MANY NAMES! :S) asked for an angsty type chapter so you can compare fluff and angst and make a fair judgement and therefroe a fair vote. ****Um.... I TRIED to write angst, but I duno if I did it right..........lemme know what you think ;)**

_**Alien Angst**_

Another week wasted away following false trails; Steph was getting fed up.

Ben and Kevin were sitting on the sofa, playing Halo and yelling at each other to do this, that, and the other. Gwen was on the futon, plugged into her iPod and reading a book. Steph was sifting through the junk on her desktop, trying to clear some space because her memory banks were full to bursting.

But there were so many photos! Hell no would she delete these! Maybe if she had some disks to put them on…save it on the network? She didn't trust Dylan, he'd screw something up on purpose and she would be out of blood.

There were the Shrove Tuesday pictures from when Mel and her friends had got together during their first year of Uni; one of them had come all the way from Canada to be there! How could Steph ever delete this album?

She sniggered as she flicked through the ones right at the end. Mel sat, serene as always, on the kitchen counter with a glass of water in her hands. The Simcox twin Miley and Lea were both doing fame jumps in the air, with the blonde River sitting on the edge of the sink, for all the world like Buddha with his crossed legs and calm smile, although she was grinning like an idiot. Pancake batter was all over the place, something they always did when they were cooking. Kinda like Steph and Ben, come to think of it…

The next folder was full of pictures from Sixth Form. There was Kev, the IT wizard, playing slime with a red haired girl from Year 11; Steph and Iorwen 'going down sandwich bar'; common room Christmas part, which had been rubbish until someone snuck in the lemonade and fire crackers; 'pool time' at Philip's house, having a BBQ, with his pet dog in the swimming pool with them; 'library days' with dear old Mrs Winsdale who never complained, even when Mikey Simcox, a close friend from four years below, accidentally made a bottle of coke explode in the non-fiction section; and finally, the leavers photos and prom pictures.

"What's that?" Gwen asked, leaning over Steph's shoulder to take a look.

"Old photos. I need to clear the hard drive, but I don't want to delete these!" she whined.

"Can I see?"

"Sure!"

Gwen managed to squeeze in beside her on the chair, and Steph tabbed through the photos. The 'popular girls' all had nice dresses, but they weren't remotely prom-ish at all. Catwalk or red carpet? Yeah, sure, why not. But prom? Yeesh!

"Aww!" Gwen pointed at Steph on the screen, grinning from ear to ear in a bright red, off the shoulder's dress and a little gold purse at hand, arms flung around the shoulders of a blonde girl in a mid blue dress that looked rather medieval. "You look gorgeous,"

"Stop it, you're making me blush!" Steph joked. "The dancing was fun, we bounced off the walls, the ceiling, the teachers, other students, the DJ…and my feet were _killing me_!"

"You wore heels?"

"Well, I wasn't gonna ware my hiking boots, was I?"

They sifted through the pictures together, Steph pointing out various people and explaining her views on them. On such photo was of all the girls lined up in a V shape, all facing the Head of Year, a woman called Mrs Bailey.

"Okay starting from the right…" Steph paused to remember who the girl was. Abigail Stone? No! Couldn't be…yeah, it was. Bloody hell, Steph had forgotten how long her hair was! "Okay, bitch, meh, meh, meh, didn't know, some guy's girlfriend, Iorwen awesome gal, bitch, okay, okay, me hahaha I look stoned in that dress, my friend from the sailing club where we had bacon baps every Saturday morning, bitch, meh, okay girl shame about the brain, can't remember, - who the hell? -, Phil's girlfriend nice girl, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch who thought I was her best friend when I actually wasn't, meh, bitch, bitch, meh, meh, meh, meh…oh god I can't actually remember this lot!" Steph tried ever so hard to remember who the girls in the tight dresses down to the middle of their thighs were. "I think that's the Havant Crew. I'm not sure…"

Gwen commented on the dresses, and they both laughed at the boys in their monkey suits. "Friend of ours picked us up and we stayed the night there; her dad said that the guys all looked like twelve year olds dressed up, and the girls looked like they were eighteen. God, it was a good night!"

"I can't wait for our prom," Gwen said wistfully, looking over at the boys.

"Food was awful," Steph pulled a face at the memory. "Prawns with the texture of rubber, and cheese that tasted like cardboard, and stuff they _said_ was lettuce…"

Gwen laughed. "Don't delete these,"

"I don't want to. I keep them for the memories,"

"Memory's on the what now?" Kevin asked aloud.

"Focus! The Flood's coming!" Ben snapped at him.

"I'm trying! But I need more ammo,"

"Meh," Steph shrugged. "Got some o'Mel's prom pictures, if you wanna have a look,"

"Okay," Gwen said brightly.

Steph searched for the folder, found it, and opened the first one. "That's Lea and Miley Simcox, my god siblings." They were both the same height, had the same caramel coloured hair, and the most unusual eyes; one blue, the other brown. "They were…what was it? 'Different sex mirror image twins' or something random."

Lea was looking dashing in his monkey suit and a bunch of wildflowers, pulling the 'come hither' smile at the camera. Miley looked stunning in her soft, milk chocolate brown Grecian dress. The next one had Steph and the twin's brother Mikey giving the camera the thumbs up. "We were just sort of there at the time," She waved the motion away. "Okay, that's River and Mel, they arrived in the same carriage,"

Two palomino horses and a white, flower strewn carriage, with Mel and River sitting in the back, smiling and waving at the camera.

"They look beautiful," Gwen breathed.

Mel had an off white dress with a blue tint to it, and her hair was piled elegantly on top if her head like a crown of ringlets; River in her peacock green dress that went blue under certain lights, with her shawl draped around her shoulders and her necklace on many pink-and-gold-and-green hues.

"They do, don't they?" Steph agreed, tabbing to the next one.

She didn't like this one as much; because it was of all the girls from their year group, and the people Steph would have deigned 'bitches' were all showing off.

---

Gwen looked at the next photo and frowned.

"I don't like this one," she admitted.

"Neither do I. Dunno why, though…"

"No, it's just…" she pointed at the group in the middle at the front. "They're all looking for attention, and they're smiling coyly or smirking. They're not real smiles. Look there," shoved into the corner was Mel and her small group of girl friends, and they were all smiling; teeth flashing in contrast to the lipstick they wore, having the time of their lives. "Mel looks natural."

"Because that lot," Steph motioned at the group in the middle, "are actually bionic robots."

"Robots?" Ben asked, looking over at them.

"Ben!" Kevin complained. Something exploded on the screen, and they rounded on each other. "Focus!"

"I was only asking a question!"

"You're supposed to have my back! We're gonna fail this mission,"

"Try looking at the screen, mate." Steph pointed. "You just lost."

They turned in time to see a tank crash into a cliff. The boys started arguing over who was driving said tank. Gwen rolled her eyes and went back to the computer.

"But yeah," Steph said, grinning. "They do look a bit…"

"Tacky." Gwen supplied.

"Yeah. Kinda _really_ tacky." She stared at a girl with a grey leopard print dress that trailed two feet behind her.

Mel was suddenly behind them, making them all jump.

"How does she do that?" Kevin demanded to know; apparently the boys hadn't noticed her enter the room either.

"I need to email someone." She said calmly.

"Sure," Steph and Gwen got up and left Mel to type her email.

Gwen went back to the futon to read her book, and Steph went to cheer the guys on. Peace reigned supreme until Dylan came in with the house phone. "River wants you," he said, handing it to Mel. She thanked him, and he turned to join in the shouting. "Red Vs Blue!"

"Cock bite," Steph laughed.

"It's Rooster Teeth, Steph," Ben said condescendingly.

"Yeah Ben, a rooster, or _cock_erel, and a set of teeth which means _bite_, which makes…?"

"Oh." Ben stared at her blankly.

"Focus!" Kevin said, trying to control a tank. "Gun down the troops, and I'll run over their tanks."

Gwen rolled her eyes and listened to Mel's conversation. She talked about a lot of seemingly random things that made no sense to her, so Gwen closed her eyes and concentrated on her music. She was disturbed when Mel picked up a music book and Steph protested.

"Hey! I was using that earlier!"

"River wants her book back," Mel said quietly.

"Ah, crap! Can I talk to her?" she took the phone and leant against the ladder. "Hey Riv! Listen, I'm sorry I forgot to give your book back…" she listened for a moment, then started whining. "But I only just found it! And I was-" she broke off. "Okay. Yeah. A week? I was fooling around with some friends. No, just wanna copy the tabs out. Sure, cheers!"

Gwen tuned her out and turned her music up.

---

Kevin was getting hacked off; Steph had brought a set of speakers from home and set it up in the workshop, plugging the new ipod she had bought on the cheap in and playing a mixture of music set out to irritate him.

"I just downloaded all the music I know I like, you like, Ben likes and Gwen likes." She had said, hands up in defence. "You get a song, I get a song, we all get a song we like. I set it up to go from on play list to another, and the four main play lists are made up of our favourite genres. Don't give me that look!" she snarled. "Maybe you hate my music, but you ain't seen nothing yet."

Ben's _bangin' tunes_ were random and extremely mental. At least Steph got a kick out of singing along, because they were capering around the room having a good time. Gwen did her homework like a good girl, which reminded Kevin of the pile of work steadily growing on his desk at home. He had to get round to that at some point…Not that he wanted to be a teacher's pet or anything, he firmly reminded himself as Steph skipped a song and Ben wrestled her away from the speakers.

"But that song's crap!" she whined.

"But I _like _it!"

"Well we don't!" she snapped back.

While they fought over it, that Romeo song started playing, whatever it was called. Gwen tapped her pen against the paper in time to the beat, mouthing the words silently. By the second chorus she was singing softly to herself, and Kevin stopped working on the engine to listen on the pretext of wiping his hands on a ragged cloth.

"…Romeo, save me they're tryin'a tell me how to feel, this love is difficult, but it's real, don't be afraid we'll make it out of this mess, it's a love story baby just say yes…"

Kevin wished the other two would shut up so he could hear her, but there was no legit excuse he could think of without raising suspicion.

This was stupid! He should stop right now before he did something _really_ dim-witted. It wasn't like he was good for her…

She was at that table, doing her work, lie he knew he wouldn't. Even if she liked him in that sense, how could it last when they often had arguments and their views clashed? Most people didn't marry the first person they dated, most sane people at least. Fairy stories didn't happen in real life; reality was harsh, he should know. It didn't help that Ben stuck his nose in it, though Steph had taken him to task over it.

Right now they were at loggerheads with each other, even when they had cycled through several songs already.

Kevin felt like cursing out loud; he could suddenly see why Steph always did. He had never been good at venting his frustration; something always ended up in the way and got broken. What should he do?

Maybe joining the team was a bad idea after all…

He was bad for Gwen, and he knew it. She had to know too, didn't she? She embodied everything that he wasn't, and Cain would do anything to have a perfect child like that. Kevin was a complete failure as far as he was concerned.

He gritted his teeth and stabbed at the engine piece in his hands with a screwdriver.

"Kevin?" Gwen asked timidly, lightly touching his shoulder.

Kevin blinked, and looked down at his hands. He had absorbed the metal and now the engine piece was bent out of shape and the screwdriver snapped in two with his surprise.

Great, that needed replacing…

He needed air, and to get away from those two fighting. Without a word he got up and walked briskly out the door, leaving a stunned silence behind him. Once out of sight he started running to the park, hoping to find an empty bench and sit there for the next hour and calm down.

---

Steph and Ben meekly shut up after Kevin ran out, and not long after they were packing up. Steph claimed she couldn't be bothered to rebuild her engine today, and Ben mumbled something about not wanting to miss dinner. Soon they were gone, and it was just Gwen and the speakers.

She sat listening to the music, absently doodling across her notes. A song started playing and she put down her pen to pay attention.

"_And suddenly I become a part of your past_

_I'm becoming the part that don't last_

_I'm losing you and its effortless_

_Without a sound we lose sight of the ground_

_In the throw around_

_Never thought that you wanted to bring it down_

_I won't let it go down till we torch it ourselves_

_And everyone knows I'm in_

_Over my head_

_Over my head_

_With eight seconds left in overtime_

_She's on your mind_

_She's on your mind_"

Gwen sighed to herself, and looked down at the ruined portion of engine and the screwdriver. That must have taken a lot of force to break like that… She remembered the stunned look on his face when he looked down, like he hadn't realised what he was doing. Something was eating him from the inside, and she was powerless to help.

She waited for another half hour, until she decided she had to go home. Steph had given her a set of keys for the garage, so she wrote a quick note to Kevin before locking up and walking home.

Gwen hoped he would be feeling better soon.

---

When Kevin finally got back to the garage, he found it locked up, which surprised him. Steph normally left quite late, especially when she was working on her engine, which had died on her again.

He unlocked the door and went inside. No one was there, so he went to pack up his things. He was a little too vigorous with a box that he dumped on the table, and a can of oil fell over and splattered everywhere. He snarled to himself, picking up a piece of paper that had been covered in it and wiping the liquid away. That's when he noticed his name it.

_Kevin,_

_Steph and Ben left a while after you did. I waited around but I had to go home so I locked the place up. Hope you feel better,_

_Gwen xoxox_

That was…touching, to know she cared.

And very bad for his mood. Like he needed another reminder…

He went home and went on Halo to kill a few aliens and vent his frustration in by less physical means than he had earlier.

His phone beeped around six o'clock, and the text read, '_ 2moz? Steph xxx_'.

He sighed, and texted back.

'_sure_'.

---

**I duno, that seemed awfully lame for angst......I don't think I'm cut out for this job xD**

**so there you have it; angst or fluff? if that sucked I could try writing angst again, or maybe not since that was pretty hard fer me to write :S**

**You decide! ;) and now you won't hear from me for a week cause I really do have to get some school work done -_-;;**

**xxx**


	11. Cornfield

**AN: lol I keep saying I'm going to revise but I can't! Duno about you guys, but where I am we have just had 6inches of snow AND it's still falling! A snowball's chance in hell is looking quite likely at the moment……….no school! Cause the rate the traffic's moving outside my house, if we left at 7am we might just make it to school mid-afternoon, and I'd much rather run round outside like the maniac I am :P I'm still a lil'kid at heart……..a tall blonde teenaged kid who likes throwing snowballs with stones in them at her brother :D**

**WWHHHEEEEEEEE!!!!! Too bad I can't write a chapter about snow since this is set in the spring and I'm pretty sure which ever state they're in is a bit too far south for a freak snow storm in April. Such is life :P okay! Trying to go for a little more action, I'm thinking of giving up on the angst, its just not in me! Read Twilight, now THERE'S some angst :P and I'm rambling again. Gees I see one snowflake and go berserk; I see many over several hours and I go stark raving mad……..er than I was before :D hey, I'm blonde, it's in my genes xD**

_**Cornfield**_

This had to be the worst night so far, and that was saying something.

They had caught a group of DNAliens leeching energy off the power lines two hours out of town, and were now trying and epically failing to track them down. They had got as far as the cornfield, and then split up to cover more ground. Steph and Ben flew overhead to seek out any that made a run for it into the road, while Gwen and Kevin took to the ground. After ten minutes Gwen couldn't see any of them at all, and stumped through the ears of corn with a resigned air.

It was all for the greater good, as she kept telling the others when they complained. They were doing a service to the universe, to humanity, and sentient beings of all kinds throughout the myriad of galaxies.

She should cut her tongue out right now for that.

_Why me?_ She thought to herself, running to the edge of the field and doubling back on herself. She should be at home doing her school work, or out shopping with friends, or watching a movie, or worrying about which lipstick matched those shoes her aunt had given her last Christmas that didn't fit properly anymore. Not running around a Goddamn cornfield at o'stupid hour in the morning!

Gwen concentrated so hard on running from one end to the other, she didn't look where she was going when she rounded a corner on the pathway and ran head on into something.

It knocked the wind from her lungs, and she fell backwards before something else crashed into her. The back of her head hit the ground and little lights popped before her eyes, and she thought she had a concussion.

Something soft and golden brushed against her face, before it hit her hard in the chest. Gwen heard Kevin swearing, and Steph's Avis equivalent of a roar in her ears.

And then Ben's moan of "Ouch…"

Gwen blinked to clear her vision, and forgot to open her eyes again.

---

How they had managed to run into each other in this damn field that had to be several acres squared was anyone's guess. Kevin had been running one moment, then he ran straight into Ben, and they skidded to a halt, then _Gwen_ came speeding round _another_ corner, and crashed into both of them. And then Steph dropped out of the sky and sent them all sprawling in different directions.

"Bird brain!" he shouted at her, among other things that would have earned him a slap from his mother if she had been there.

She squawked loudly, just at the right pitch to make their ears bleed. "I can't see in this light, ya idiot! _You_ try landing in the pitch darkness,"

"My head hurts…" Ben said, slowly picking himself up and dusting himself off.

"Gwen?" Steph asked, heading swivelling through more degrees than looked comfortable for her neck.

Gwen? Gwen! Where had she gone?

Kevin pushed Steph out of the way so he could look properly, and she protested loudly when she landed on the dirt track.

"You're squashing her!" he shouted, giving Steph another shove.

"Because you shoved me here dipshit," she snarled, falling onto Ben this time, sweeping him off his feet again. They both protested, but he didn't care.

Gwen was unconscious, probably hit her head on something, but her pulse and breathing were fine; she could have been asleep if this wasn't the last place anyone would pick for a power nap.

There was a flash of light over Kevin's shoulder, and Ben moaned, "My eyes!"

"Oh shut up!" Steph snapped, pushing him into the corn. "It's been a rotten day! First hunting down the power line, then chasing those…_things_ all the way out here, and loosing them, and then breaking my back five times in a row. You're all bastards, the lot of you…"

Kevin very carefully sat Gwen up, so she was leaning against his shoulder, and looked at the others. "What now?"

"Well…" Ben was looking back the way he had come before the multi-person pile up.

"Oh no," Steph looked at him in real horror.

"Don't even think about it, Tennyson!" Kevin snarled.

"Just thinking, they could still be around…"

"I'm not chasing champion spit-wad throwers till dawn," Steph snapped. "I'm getting cold – which is saying something – and its dark, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I _really_ wanted to be home tonight."

"Why?" Ben was mystified.

"It's pizza night! Gerald makes the most amazing pizzas in the universe. But oh no! Some muppet with a dumbass watch called me and said 'Let's go alien hunting!'," she pretended to talk into her hand like a cell phone as she spoke, then fixed Ben with a steely glare that looked deadly in the half light. "I will greatly enjoy gutting you slowly with this," she pulled a blunt looking pencil from her pocket. "Then strewing your internal organs around the field in alphabetical order."

"No organ gutting…" Gwen groaned, stirring in Kevin's arms.

"Gwen?" suddenly they were both on their knees next to him.

"Speak to me, Gwen! You're my last hope of sanity!" Steph begged.

"I'm fine," she slowly sat up, and Steph gave her a hug. "Just give me a minute…"

"I think we should go home," Steph said, pulling Gwen to her feet.

"We can check round here again tomorrow, right?" Ben asked.

"By all means!" Steph said cheerfully, towing Gwen back in the general direction of the road. "Have fun Ben!"

Kevin gave Ben a shove into the corn, and ran after the girls. Steph would defend him if Ben retaliated.

He hoped…

---

**Omg that is probably the shortest chapter I have written so far :S but in my defence, I ditched this halfway through and went to a friends house down the road and made a snow winnie the pooh :D and had a snow ball fight which made the driveway ice over and my jeans were SOAKED through and my boots were full of ice! :S so I came back and finished this, and when it's loaded I'm having a nice hot shower to unfreeze cause I can't feel my toes xD**

**And if you're being snowed on, wwwwwoooooooooooo! High five me snow buddy! :D I am so random today, it's the snow :D :D :D :D**

**There I go again, rambling! SO! What did you think??? I have an idea for the next chapter that does not involve action xD I'll see if I can make it a nice long one that's not too boring to read.**


	12. Shopping

**AN: so unimaginative with my titles xD okay! I seem to have many readers who are from areas of the globe located much closer to the equator than I am and therefore cannot be my snow buddies and have a high five. Be my fanfiction buddies and have a high five anyway, I lvoe you guys! :P okay, so this chapter is long, rambles, and I have no idea what was going through my head (if anything) because I went out today and OMFG the snow became ice and it took me an hour to walk were it usually takes twenty minutes. And it's now past midnight where I am and I am dead beat. Please ignore the typos, I don't like leaving people cliff-hanging and that last chapter was kinda short and I want to give you something worth reading and i CBA to proof read at this hour of the morning. I might go back, edit and re post but not today.**

**Anyhow, please enjoy! ;)**

_**Shopping**_

Gwen was surfing through Steph's Facebook photos, having nothing else to do. The birds sang in the trees, the bees buzzed in the flowers, and Steph and Kevin were swearing at each other over her engine.

"That doesn't go in there!"

"You sure? Cause it was like that when Tom and I bought it…"

"No!" he snatched it from her hands. "That'll break it!"

"Jesus Christ, what's that?" she pulled something slimy and covered in black oil.

Ben, who was looking over her shoulder, suggested, "Icky?"

"_Besides_ that, you idiot." She said in a defeated voice, which was rare for Steph.

Gwen went on flicking through the photos, paying them no attention. There were pictures from years ago, which creeped her out a bit. Had her hair really been so short? And had Steph actually been that skinny at thirteen? They were sitting on a rock by the sea, pulling faces at the camera; eating ice creams next to the Rust Bucket; on the swings at a park, jumping at the height of the arc; swimming in the rock pools; and playing tug-of-war with the picnic blanket. Good times.

There were a bunch of other photos of people she didn't recognise in Mel's albums, and she paused to look through 'The Day of The Snow Fairies'. There was a group of about half a dozen people doing various snow-like activities such as making snow angels, building snow men, and a full out snowball fight.

More like a war, because the last few pictures taken outside were of them all sitting in a depression of ice in the park, looking exhausted. The last few in the album were of them all inside, sipping hot chocolate and eating biscuits, looking quite content.

"What's that?" Steph asked, looking over the top of Gwen's head.

"Using your phone to look at Facebook," she shrugged.

"Ha!" Steph swooped down and took the phone from her. "That was a great day! I remember, we had a freak snowstorm and everything was screwed up so school was closed for a week. Mel and her mates went down the road to the park, and me and _my_ mates went up the hill to go sledging!" She skimmed through the pages until she found the right one. "Take a look at that!"

"It isn't a mystery why your computer memory's all used up." Gwen said with a sigh.

"Buts its funny to look back over…God! Look at this one,"

Mel was perched on a bench, smiling at the people beside her; a black man and a girl with her hood pulled so far forward her hair was hidden. She was blowing onto her outstretched hands, wafting the snow there at the camera. The tags read, _Melanie Smith_, _River Collins_, _Taylor Pelkey_. There was also _The Snow Fairy!_

"And this one…" Steph muttered, skimmed through again, this time with the guys hanging over her shoulders to see too. "Aha!"

Someone had taken the time to fashion a dancing man out of snow and ice, with a bowtie and everything. A girl with blonde hair Gwen didn't recognise was pretending to dance with it, laughing hysterically judging by the blurred shoulders. Tagged as _River Collins_and _snowy mcsnowson's twin brother_, the comments left beneath the all the photos made them laugh.

_**Lyndon-Lea Simcox**__ HA! You got hit on by an iceman, how low can you get…_

_**Taylor Pelkey**__ I resent that comment :P_

"Got any more?" Ben asked.

"Hang on, lemme find it…" Steph said, skimming again.

The next one was of a snowman with a bowtie and hate, with a girl standing beside it, an arm linked through a snow-covered arm and gazing longingly into its coal black eyes. Tagged as _Miley 'Smiley' Simcox_and _snowy mcsnowson_.

_**Lyndon-Lea Simcox**__ I now pronounce you snowman and wife. You may kiss the branch ;)_

_**Mikey Simcox **__wtf?! snowy mcsnowson???_

_**River Collins **__lol took for bloody ever to get those arms at the right angle! Grr stupid stan getting in my way AGAIN_

_**Miley 'Smiley' Simcox **__and then the gritting men bulldozed it over in the morning! SAD FACE :'(_

_**River Collins**__ aww don't be sad smiley, we have the memories! ;)_

_**Taylor Pelkey **__if I covered myself in snow would you marry me???_

_**Lyndon-Lea Simcox**__ – gaspeth – YOU POPPED THE QUESTION ON MEL'S SNOW ALBUM?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Chicken! :P_

_**River Collins**__ no thanks babes, I want to marry a man not an abominable snow one! ;)_

_**Taylor Pelkey**__ note to self, ditch that plan -_-;;_

_**Mikey Simcox**__ well and truly gutted mate. here have a virtual hug (hug)_

_**Stephenie Smith**__ lol wut?_

"And of course, there's this one…"

Entitled, _A work in progress. Very, very slow progress…_, there was a column of packed snow with the blonde girl crouched beside it, running her hands up the pillar, hood half fallen from her face and grinning broadly. The only tag said _snowy mcsnowson_.

_**Stephenie Smith**__ lol you look like your having fun – wink wink nudge nudge know what I mean know what I mean say no more say no more ;) – xxx_

_**Lyndon-Lea Simcox**__ looks like a dildo to me…_

_**Miley 'Smiley' Simcox **__get your mind out of the effing gutter you sicko :P_

_**River Collins**__ no no he's right, looks like I'm trying to sex him up xD_

_**Taylor Pelkey**__ :O cheating on me with a snowman?!_

_**River Collins**__ what can I say I like my man cold hard and sparkle in the sunlight ;P_

_**Taylor Pelkey**__ you could have just SAID and I would have bought some glitter when we were in town_

_**Mikey Simcox**__ lol wheres this convo going???_

"And my absolute favourite," Steph said, tapping the screen. By this point they were all doubled over with laughter.

The shot was taken from a slight distance, so both snowmen could be seen, and a little baby snowman sat in between tagged as _rivers luv child_.

_**Lyndon-Lea Simcox**__ lol!_

_**Mikey Simcox **__that's gotta be a blow to taylors ego… -_-;;_

_**Taylor Pelkey **__omfg riv why d'ya go have a baby with snowy???_

_**Miley 'Smiley' Simcox **__oh grow up you three! :_

_**River Collins **__actually it was snowy's twin brother's :P_

_**Stephenie Smith**__ lol you have a 3some???_

_**Melanie Smith**__ that is not a very nice thing to say Steph._

_**Taylor Pelkey**__ yeah Steph :P _

_**River Collins**__ is there something wrong with my baby then??? Taylor babycakes don't you like her?_

_**Lyndon-Lea Simcox**__ wtf up with that bow anyways?_

_**Mikey Simcox**__ what bow?_

_**River Collins**__ – edit – THAT bow! :P_

_**Taylor Pelkey**__ your baby is fat, that's what's wrong with it, and white :P_

_**River Collins**__ you bitch! :O omg you evil man your not going to the christening. :'( you cruel man, being evil to a poor defenceless lil'snowluvchild_

_**Mikey Simcox**__ yeah ya douche bag :D _

"You think Ben and _I_ are random," Steph went back to her sister's photos amid gales of laughter. "Mel's friends are all nut cases. One's an ICT wizard, another's into Chinese herbal medicines and acupuncture, the blonde one's a criminal psychologist…Mikey's mental anyways. And Mel is…Mel." She shrugged, dropping the phone on the table. "Anyways, back to the engine!"

She sauntered off to the jeep, and Kevin sank to the floor where he was. "Steph, we've been working on that thing for hours…"

"Yeah, I know! And we've got hardly any work done," she fretted.

"I'm _bored_. I wanna do something else."

"Wanna do something else? Go sod off, I don't need your fancy pants technology. I can do it all by myself!" she stalked off, muttering curses to herself.

Ben picked up the abandoned smoothie cup from the side and leaned against the table next to Gwen. "How long you reckon before she needs help?" he asked Kevin.

He considered this for a moment before saying, "Ten minutes."

---

By some miracle Steph's engine began to work again, so she and Gwen drove into town to do some shopping. At least, that's what they told the boys.

Steph chucked them Dylan's old, disused TV, her ancient XBox and a battered copy of Halo and left them to it. Even if they were standoffish with each other, Gwen found that guys with common ground could get along just fine.

She chatted with Steph about ordinary, normal things, which felt nice for a change. No freaky alien spit-wad champions today.

Not _yet_ at least…

They found a parking space right at the other end of the lot, and traipsed into the mall to find it heaving with people. Steph rolled her eyes dramatically, and said, "Where to first, oh mastress?"

"Oooh let's go in here!" Gwen said, towing her to a clothes shop nearby.

Steph rolled her eyes but good-naturedly followed. She was just not that type of girl to get excited about clothes and make-up, but she followed around, helped pick things out, sent the rejects back to the rail, and generally gave her opinion. Colour was out of the question when it came to her, but she could handle styles as well as any boy could.

"Okay, no offence, but that makes your bum look big," Steph said when Gwen looked at herself in the mirror in the dressing rooms.

"Mmm…" she frowned at herself. It was a dress in a nice green colour that matched her eyes, but Steph had a point… "No," she sighed.

"What's with the dresses anyway?" Steph asked as Gwen pulled the curtain across and undid the dress.

"My dad's boss is coming to dinner and I need something to wear…"

"Like you don't have enough dresses," Steph snorted with laughter.

Gwen threw the dress over the top of the cubicle and heard her say, "Gah! I get it, I get it. I'm gone." Her boots squeaked against the faux wooden floor as she strode off.

By the time Gwen was struggling into the next one Steph came back. "Uh, could you help me?"

"Sup?" Steph stuck her head round the curtain. "Here," her overly warm hands took hold of the zip and pulled it up easily.

"Thanks," Gwen huffed, annoyed with herself. She flipped her hair out of the way and looked at her reflection. Plain white lace, with pink flowers stitched into it.

"Tacky," Steph said bluntly. "Sorry Gwen, but it looks tacky."

"Okay, I'm out of dresses now."

"Reload!" Steph pumped her fist into the air with fake enthusiasm. "Need a hand?"

"Please,"

She yanked the zip down and slid round the side of the curtain again. Once Gwen was in her own clothes again she sauntered over to Steph, who was sifting through a sale rack with jeans at half price.

"I need new jeans." She explained forlornly, tugging at the knee of the pair she was wearing. "These are falling to pieces…"

Gwen left her to it and searched along the dress rack. The she saw it, something plain and white hidden between a bright Barbie pink dress that looked like a slightly elongated boob tube and a long flowing mop like number in black and silver sequins. It was strapless, off the shoulders, and plain as can be. It looked absolutely perfect.

She grabbed a few more then headed for the dressing rooms again. Steph ran after her, three pairs of jeans slung over her shoulder. "Just need to check these," she said. "I'll be real quick and take a look at this lot," she waved a hand at the piled in Gwen's arms and disappeared to the next-door cubicle.

Gwen tried on the others first, leaving the white one until last. Steph changed at the speed of light and was there in no time to lend her untrained-critical eye.

"Meh," she said to a caterpillar green halter neck. When Gwen tried on the next one Steph laughed and said, "Is that for real?"

It was an unflattering sickly yellow colour that made her face look sallow. Gwen frowned at herself. It hadn't looked nearly as hideous on the rack…

"Now, I know I'm crap at colour schemes and everything, but that makes you look sick – like, really ill…"

"No," she sighed, stripping off before Steph could even look away.

"Gees, you can't wait till I'm out the way?" she said sarcastically.

"Just take this back to the rack, will you?" Gwen snapped.

Steph went in silence, which made her feel bad for lashing out. But, when Steph came back, bouncing into the cubicle like nothing had happened, Gwen felt better. "Hmm…blue? I dunno, Mel and Mum always pick out my clothes. And I wear tanks and jeans and stuff. You should have brought your mum along, not me."

"You'll do," Gwen said off-handedly, smoothing out the ruffles down her thighs.

"You look like a Christmas present," Steph said conversationally.

"Nope,"

The lime green and canary yellow dresses that followed, both of which barely reached the middle of her thighs, let alone her knees, had Steph in stitches as she ferried them back to the rail.

"Bird brain," Gwen muttered darkly to herself, pulling on the white dress.

"Gwen?" Steph swept the curtain back. "Wow!"

Gwen spun round and stared at her blankly. "What?"

"Look at you, all grown up in a prom dress!" Steph laughed. Of course, she had been there already, gone threw the agonising process of choosing a dress and dancing under the disco lights with people she would never see again. Why did that sound so depressing?

"It's not, its just a dress," she protested.

"Nuh-uh, that is so the same sort of style as the one I wore," Steph argued. She looked Gwen up and down, then turned her around so she could see the back. "You look beautiful," she stated.

Gwen felt like crying. Damn her teenage hormones!

It was just that, from Steph, a compliment meant so much more since she had no problem with telling you if you looked so cheap and tacky that you resembled a hooker. But beautiful? Now _that_ was from the heart.

"Thanks, that means a lot…" she mumbled.

"Jesus, Gwen! It ain't prom night yet! You can cry all you want then but not now!" she looked terrified at the prospect of a crying fit. "I don't do tears," she added nervously. "I was just being honest, don't get emotional with me, I'm gonna run away screaming if you do,"

Gwen laughed, and leant up to give Steph a hug. She returned it, and laughed as well. "I swear I'm taller than Kevin now,"

Gwen, trying to look for her bag under the pile of clothes, nearly tripped up when she heard his name. "What?" she demanded.

"Huh?" Steph looked baffled. "I just said that I reckon I'm taller than him."

"Oh," great, now she was over reacting.

Why did you have to be so temperamental at fifteen? One moment she was happy, the next she felt like crying, and then she was hungry, and then she felt fat… Not Steph though, oh no! She acted like she was five years old all the time; all those temper tantrums had nothing to do with hormones. More to do with the guys winding her up, but still…

"Hey, come out here in the light and I'll take a picture,"

They stood by the big mirror in the small waiting area for their mini photo shoot. Steph couldn't resist it, so they took a load of random, stupid photos before Gwen put her own clothes back on. They sat down and started going through their options.

"Gwen, that's more of a prom dress than a sit-down-dinner-with-the-boss dress…"

"Mmm…" she agreed. "I have to get something today or I won't have anything to wear. But I only have enough for one dress…"

"I could sub you," Steph offered.

"Oh, Steph, I couldn't do that! You need those jeans,"

"True," she looked them up and down. "But that could wait. I could go take some money from the ATM if it made you feel better,"

"No," Gwen shook her head and stood up, her mind already made up. "I'll get another one." It was a real wrench, putting that white dress back on the rail.

"Well," Steph said thoughtfully, tapping her fingers against the wall. "There are other shops, we could look around a bit before you decide. I need to get some more t-shirts as well…"

"Okay," Gwen sighed, following Steph to the cashier.

Once she had the change and receipt, Steph shoved the jeans into her rucksack and they set off for the next shop. They goofed around a bit, trying on hats and sunglasses, and all manner of jewellery and scarves and who knew what else. Gwen tried on more dresses and found a nice dark green and blue tartan sleeved dress that went with the earrings Ben had given her last Christmas.

"That's really pretty," Steph commented as they left the shop, checking her new plain t-shirts again. "I duno, I think those are to small for me…"

Steph and clothes didn't mix; she was practically a size zero (through no fault of her own) and so incredibly long limbed, so finding anything that fitted properly was a nightmare. Gwen was slender but well proportioned. A little on the petite side, but she could find something that would fit well enough most of the time.

"Oh, can we go in there?" Steph pointed at a sports outlet. "We sort of put a puncture in Kev's football and I promised to get him another one."

"Sure,"

They went in, and Steph went to the soccer sectioned, and Gwen rolled her eyes. Of course she meant soccer, since she was firmly hanging onto her English accent and British vocab with a death grip. She bounced round a corner and into someone on the other aisle; something clattered to the floor, and Steph swooped down to pick something up.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there," Steph said apologetically.

Gwen rounded the corner and stopped where she was. The girl standing in front of Steph was holding a tennis racket, smiling sheepishly up at her – which was quite a height – and said, "No, it okay. I should have watched where I was going,"

She looked familiar…

That wasn't Julie, was it? The girl Ben had been fawning over for the last few days and only she had noticed? (Since Kevin and Steph were learning off each other and widening their collective Encyclopaedia of Intergalactic Offensive Phrases: Volume 1)

She was rather cute looking, with short black hair and a sporty skirt and pink hoody. Now wonder Ben was preoccupied…

"Are you Julie?" she asked.

She looked surprised, but said, "Yes, I am.

"Hi, I'm Gwen," she gestured to Steph. "And this is Stephenie."

"Just Steph," she pulled a face.

They started talking while Steph looked for a soccer ball, and after she had paid for it they wondered around the mall together for a bit. Julie was great fun to be with, and Gwen was hatching a plan in her mind as they said goodbye and left before they got locked in.

"Sup?" Steph asked as they got into the jeep and the engine coughed to life. "No! Don't die on me, please, I beg you!" the engine groaned and kicked itself to life. "Touch wood we get home," she said, placing a hand on top of Gwen's head.

"What's up?" Gwen asked.

"That's what _I _asked!" she said, pulling out onto the road. "You've got that look on your face when you're plotting a cunning plan of the most devilish variety."

Gwen blinked. Was she really that obvious? Or was it just Steph's day for being deep and meaningful?

"I was just thinking…"

"Oh yeah?" Steph grinned, changing gear.

"Julie, that girl we met in the sports shop. She plays tennis,"

"No duh, I saw the racket Gwen. I'm not stupid," she pulled a face.

"Well, Ben's got a crush on her,"

Steph laughed, and the jeep swerved slightly. "Pull the other one!"

"And I have, as you said, a cunning plan."

"Oh, do tell," Steph smirked evilly.

Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but her phone started ringing. "Hello?" she said, not bothering to check the caller ID.

"_Where are you?!_" Ben demanded. "_At the park, DNAliens, getting pounded out here, help!_"

"We're on our way," Gwen promised, and put the phone down.

"Sup?"

"Park, now! They're in trouble!"

"I'm sure they're just fine," Steph said carelessly.

When they got there, it was clear that Steph had been very wrong with her statement. They jumped out and ran to help, Steph bursting into her Phoenix form without thinking twice and swooping in low and knocking several aliens over in one go. Ben was running back and forth fending off attacks, and Kevin was nowhere to be seen. She dithered for a moment, unsure of what to do, until Steph landed with a dull thud and spread her wings out protectively over something on the ground.

With a sickening lurch, she realised Kevin was unconscious, and ran forward to help. When she reached him, Steph took off and flew to help Ben in his plight. Gwen created a shield around her and Kevin, then flipped him onto his back to see if he was okay. He could've been asleep with that expression. Gwen wasn't sure if she wanted to hug him or slap him at this point.

And then, as was their annoying habit, the DNAliens ran away, screeching as they went. Ben ran over, and Steph fell out of the sky and landed beside them.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded to know.

Ben quickly went over the situation, but Gwen was too busy fretting over Kevin to notice. He groaned, and slowly came too while Steph flapped her wings in agitation.

"Bloody DNAliens, getting their goo _right_ where I don't want it…"

She started preening her feathers, and Ben checked his phone.

"Why does my mom always text me when we're fighting aliens?" he asked out loud.

"Dunno," Steph grumbled. "It's Mum logic. It defies the laws of physics."

---

Ouch…

That was going to leave a nice big, painful mark in the morning. One moment he had been up, the next he was face down in the grass. When feeling came back to his limbs, Kevin tried to move, but found it hurt too much. He groaned, and struggled to open his eyes.

Something soft pressed against his forehead, then something else tugged at his hair, making a cooing noise that sounded all too familiar by now.

"Go way bird brain…" he mumbled.

Something nipped his ear hard.

"Ouch!" he sat bolt upright, and suddenly the pain over took him for a moment so he fell backwards again, spots dancing in front of his eyes.

"Oh sure, blame the Avis," Steph snapped as she snapped her beak shut with a sharp clicking noise.

"You okay?" Gwen murmured quietly, taking his hand and checking his pulse.

"Yeah, fine," he said, trying to sit up again.

"Let's go home," Ben suggested.

Gwen put an arm under his to support him, and tried to stand up. Ben went to Kevin's other side and took his left arm. Steph said, "I'll get the jeep started," and swooped off over the park.

When they finally reached it, she had the heater going to take off the chill of the crisp evening, and they all piled in.

"Kay, I need to grab something from the workshop. Mind if we go there first?"

The general consensus was 'meh', so she drove there first, then dropped the others off home. Ben was kicked out first, then Gwen, and the Steph drove to Kevin's house. She had never been inside before, only come by once or twice to pick him up when they were using her jeep, and Kevin was sure his stepfather was home.

They fought for all of about five minutes about whether she should come in or not, and he relented when he fell out of the door and couldn't get up again.

"Try to get hit somewhere where it won't effect your walking skills, please? S'not that you're fat or anything, but you're sure not light!" Steph huffed as she helped him to the door. "You gonna be okay?" her brow was furrowed with deep concern.

"I'll live." He said dryly. "Always have."

"Whatever," Steph rolled her eyes as he opened the door. "Need help getting in?"

Kevin glowered at the welcome mat as she towed him inside. "Okay, give me the silent treatment. Where's your room? Just so I can drop you."

"Down there," he nodded at the stairs to the basement. He wouldn't put it past her to quite literally 'drop him' so he bit back the retort he was dying to throw at her. They past the washing/laundry room and stood in front of his bedroom door.

How weird it felt, to have a girl coming into his room, even if it was Steph, the one wrench wonder of the workshop.

Gah! Alliteration, something Gwen had been talking about the other day when she asked him to read her media essay for English. And thus, did the poet in him resurface. He still hadn't done anything about getting help for that.

Steph dumped him on the bed, and looked around, curious. "You know, I always thought you'd be the type of guy with a messy room." She said conversationally.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. There were clothes piled on the floor by the bed, papers scattered all over the desk, games overflowing the box by the TV, and a stack of plates on the low table by the bathroom door.

"You think this is clean?" he said scathingly.

"You haven't seen Dylan's room on a good day," Steph shuddered. "You okay now? Don't want you snuffing it in the night or anything…"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Okay, see ya tomorrow! You'll probably be able to sleep it off, I always do." She left the room, and as the front door closed above, Kevin felt very sleepy.

He closed his eyes for only a moment, but then his mother was shaking his shoulder. "Kevin? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he yawned widely and sat up slowly. Good, he wasn't feeling dizzy anymore.

"You're friend called earlier to see how you were. She sounded very worried about you. What on earth were you doing?"

He waved the question away. "Stuff,"

"Well, she gave me a number to call back. I have to go see to dinner. Come upstairs if you feel up to it,"

Kevin looked at the piece of paper she had handed to him. Cain's elegant handwriting scrawled across the post it note, _Gwen Tennyson called 7pm after KL_. It was really pathetic, how he tried to regiment everything in this household, and even more so the fact that he would write out everyone's name in full but he was simply KL. K11 would have been better, at least that was funny. Black humour, as Steph called it, but still better then the crap Cain pulled.

Gwen had called after him? That was touching, and in a good way. It was actually rather sweet that she would take the time and call in the evening, especially when her parents were having that dinner thing.

Kevin didn't know what was scarier; the fact that he was using the words _touching_ and _sweet_ in his mind, or that he remembered such a trivial fact that Gwen had mentioned in passing to someone else when she had her back to him.

He was really getting in too deep here, but had no idea whether to run to the shallows where he knew what he was doing (retreat like the scared little boy he was) or just roll with it and strike out even further.

Why was life so complicated?

---

**So, good??? Bad??????? MEEHHHHHHHHHHH???? Please, lemme know! ;) you know the drill, and now I'm off to bed.**

**xxx**


	13. The Park

AN: ARGH! There's like another snowstorm scheduled and our exams are looking really dicey at the moment, so we might have to do them in the summer. I don't know, get extra time to play in the snow and write stuff because I want to (instead of writing about feminist poets who like to write about cutting off men's heads, hands, and other extremities); or do like eight exams in the summer :S call me crazy, but I like the idea of eating and sleeping this June. School's closed, AGAIN, not a chance in hell I'm leaving my house the rest of this week! I have never broken a bone in my life and I intend to keep it that way.

**And in between revising for the exam that may not happen for many more months, I have been cobbling this together. Oki doki, I seem to be causing some confusion with my plot line. The Plot is….actually there isn't one xD I originally intended this to be like a series of one-shots and it's gone a bit mental. The actual episodes always seemed a little disconnected to me until someone steered me to McDuffie's Q&A forum and I read that time does pass between episodes so there is a lot of missing information for the viewers.**

**_The Park_**

It was one of those rare days when Steph and Gwen got to go do something slightly girly without the guys around. God only knew where they were and what they were doing, and as far as Steph was concerned, God only cared.

They made it to the park without being called with regards to an alien attack that needed attending to. Steph flopped onto a swing and licked her ice cream with great gusto, and Gwen settled more gracefully onto the one next to her.

"I hope Kevin's feeling better," Gwen said finally. He hadn't called her back since their shopping trip.

"He'll live." Steph seemed unconcerned.

Gwen sighed. It was one of those slow days where nothing was going wrong so they could properly unwind. Sitting on a swing with an ice cream cone was about as normal as you could get today. Still, that nagging thought in the back of her head as to why Kevin hadn't called back or at least texted her was a mystery. He had since bought a cell phone, so he had no excuse to _not _text her.

"Git…" Steph muttered to herself.

"Mmm?" Gwen looked up.

"Weren't you listening?" Steph said, eyes glued to her cell. "I'm moaning about Ben being a git because he wants us to go to a tennis next week. Since when has he liked tennis anyway?"

"Since Julie," Gwen reminded her.

"Grr…" Steph snarled to herself.

They went for a few more minutes in companionable silence; the only sound the clicking of the keypad on Steph's phone. Then it started beeping at her, and she opened the new text message.

"Bitch!" she said to herself. "I'm so gonna kill him,"

"What did Dylan do this time?" Gwen asked.

"Not Dyl, bloody Kevin." She snarled.

Wait, what? "What did he say?"

"Asking if I can lend him a game. No! Go buy your own copy – if I may coin your phrase, Gwen – _dweeb_." She looked thoroughly hacked off about it.

"Why'd he text you?" Gwen demanded to know.

"Because he's annoying?" Steph was really missing the point of Gwen's irritation.

Gwen looked down at her ice cream as Steph muttered under her breath. It was completely irrational, how she suddenly felt so jealous; this was _Stephenie Smith_, who might as well be a boy, the way she acted most of the time. But why would Kevin text her and not Gwen? Not that she should care so much…

Though, she had to admit, those two got on really well together when they were out and about, and Steph was one of those people; you either liked her or really, _really_ disliked her. She didn't give her friendship easily, but she quite readily got on with Kevin in a way that Gwen didn't. There was no friction between them when they were in the workshop; there was a lot tension between him and Gwen, which was something she wasn't used to and didn't know how to handle.

They should teach teens this stuff in school; it would be a better waste of time than her social studies class…

"Steph?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah?" Still hacked off.

"Do you…"

"I do what now?" Steph said when Gwen didn't continue.

"Do you like Kevin?"

Steph processed this for a moment, before slowly saying, "Is there a reason for that? I'm trying to think deeply on an emotional girly level here and failing." She frowned. "Is something up?"

"Just wondering," Gwen said hurriedly.

"Well, yeah, he can put up with my crap and I can put up with his. He's alright…I _guess_." She glowered at her phone, and it started bleeping at her. "I am going to gut him like a fish." She texted back furiously, then switched her cell off.

While she did this, Gwen reflected on what Steph said. She _supposed_ it made sense what Steph was saying. She wasn't the type of girl to actively seek a relationship, nor follow if she found someone she really liked. She would probably not notice if anyone tried to flirt with her; she wouldn't know a date if it slapped her in the face, bless her heart. That was just the way she was. And, apparently, Gwen was the opposite.

Not like she would go home and write in a diary how her life was ending or anything. She wasn't a drama queen and didn't want anyone to make a fuss over her like some lame high school movie.

"Any reason why you're asking?" Steph said suddenly.

"Well…" she could trust Steph, she knew she could. If Gwen asked her not to say anything to anyone she would take it to the grave. "Its just that…you know, we've been hanging out for a few weeks now,"

"Yeah, a few weeks too long if you ask me," Steph pulled a face.

Gwen smiled slightly, but pressed on. "What do you think of him? You know, as a person,"

"Well," Steph cocked her head to one side and stared at the bushes twenty feet ahead of them. "He's pissed me off today, but generally, yeah, I'd say he's an okay guy. As far as I can throw him." She licked her ice cream cone again. "Which is actually quite far, considering he's built like a tank."

"What do you mean?"

"After I dropped you guys off I took him to his house, and he said he could get to the door by himself, so he fell out the car door," she rolled her eyes. "So I had to heave him indoors and dump him on his bed, then I went home. He's so heavy!" she grimaced. "He's a big lad, but muscle is like five times heavier than fat, and he's _all_ muscle. I swear he is,"

Gwen's brain was trying to process what Steph was rambling on about.

"You were in his room?"

"Well, I wasn't gonna make him drag himself indoors was I?" she stared at Gwen in horror before saying, "_He knows where I live!_"

"What has that got to do with anything?" Gwen snapped.

"I wouldn't put it past him to TP my house. Especially if he got Ben in on it; imagine the damage they could do if they teamed up against me?"

"So you were in his room?" Gwen verified, trying not to sound like a five year old sulking.

"Yeah." Steph looked at her blankly. Her expression clearly said, 'Is this a problem?'

"What'd you do?"

"Erm…besides dump him on the bed and walk out? Sod all." She shrugged. "I don't know why you're getting worked up about it. It's a _room_, gees. Not like he's building a nuclear reactor or anything in there. Or…" she frowned thoughtfully, stroking a pretend moustache, "then again, I didn't check in the wardrobe. God only knows what lurks in a man draw…"

Gwen frowned deeply at her, and Steph noticed.

"Sup? Something's bugging you, and its bugging me now."

Gwen looked away. God! This was so stupid; she wished she hadn't said anything now…

"You…" Steph was struggling to find her inner eye. "You…jealous?"

Gwen closed her eyes and considered running for it; her cheeks were burning with chagrin.

"You look like a tomato," she said conversationally.

Gwen considered throwing her ice cream at Steph, her hand even twitched in Steph's general direction.

"Okay, I deserve whatever you're planning to do to me, but please hear me out before you throw something at me?"

"What?" Gwen refused to look at her.

"Really, I'm sorry." She sounded sincere. "But you know me, I piss people off all the time and I never do it on purpose."

Gwen snorted derisively.

"Okay, _most_ of the time. But, that's just me."

Gwen turned her head slightly so she could see Steph spreading her hands in an apologetic gesture. She relented, and looked her friend full in the face. "I'm sorry, Steph."

"Meh," she shrugged. "I deserve to have something thrown at me. Quite a lot."

Gwen laughed, despite herself.

"So," Steph shifted in the swing so she had had one leg either side of it and was facing Gwen. "What's got you all riled up?"

Gwen sighed, looking at her ice cream. "You just summed it up."

"You're jealous because I was in Kevin's room?"

"Mmm…"

"Take his room, I don't want it! Boys are icky creatures, I don't want anything, you can have it."

"Its not that," she insisted.

"Then what is it?" Steph leant forward and tried to look Gwen in the face. "I want to help but you're being difficult, and you know what I do with difficult people,"

"Throw them down a well," Gwen said with defeat.

"Exactly!" Steph beamed. "So spill it. I won't tell anyone, promise. Cross my heart, hope to die,"

"Stick a needle in your eye?"

"I'll impale myself on my compass if it makes you happy." Steph promised.

"Okay," Gwen turned round to face her. "I sort of like Kevin."

"So do I. When he's not pissing me off."

"No," God, how did she convey the concept of a crush to Steph? "I mean, I _like,_ like Kevin."

"As in 'omg I'd go to the ends of the earth for you' like?"

"Bit dramatic," Gwen muttered.

"You have a crush on Kevin Levin. Is that what you're trying to say?"

Gwen nodded stiffly, part of her wanting to admit to it, and the other half wanting to shut up about it.

"So?" Steph shrugged.

"Is that _all_ you have to say?" Gwen snapped.

"What, its not like it's any of my business,"

"It is _now_," Gwen snarled. "I've dragged you into it!"

"Okay, fine!" Steph put on her tantrum face. "It's my business! You happy now?"

"No!" Gwen started to panic. "I don't know what to do!"

"Calm down for a start," Steph fretted. "I'm rubbish at these sort of things," she whined.

"I'm sorry I brought it up in the first place,"

"Go talk to Mel," Steph said suddenly.

"What?" Gwen's mind was being infuriatingly slow today.

"Mel's good with people. And if she makes you even more lost and confused, she can put you in contact with someone else. All her friends are 'deep' in the sense that they understand emotions, but aren't as creepy about it as Mel."

"I don't want to make a fuss over it…" Gwen murmured."

"Well…" Steph struggled for a moment. "I dunno what to do," she admitted. "But, don't be jealous. I can assure if Kevin walked towards me with any intentions of dating me I would run away screaming. Loudly. And would possibly come back with a war tank and nuke him into oblivion."

Gwen raised an eyebrow, but laughed at the same time. "I don't want to act like a drama queen, but…"

"Sorry, but I fail to see what the problem is," Steph said sheepishly.

"You always get on with each other," Gwen blurted out. "And he always notices when you're around."

Steph's expression was deadpan.

"And he tries not to notice me, but I see him watching me when he thinks I'm not looking, and he doesn't seem to take a hint!" she glared at the ground beneath her. He was in infuriating!

"He's a guy. Duh!" Steph poked her in the forehead.

"Ouch!" Gwen rubbed her face; it didn't hurt that much, but Steph was incredibly warm in the already balmy spring air.

"They don't like admitting they have feelings and stuff, because they have a Y chromosome. It's just the way they are. Don't worry about it," she put a comforting hand on Gwen's shoulder. "When he crawls out of the abnormally thick shell of his, he'll grow some balls and ask you out."

"I don't think so somehow…" she was beginning to think she was mistaken about his 'attentions'.

"Oh, please!" Steph said abruptly. "When it's just us two in the workshop, he talks about you so much I feel like gagging him with my snow chains…"

"Huh?"

"He doesn't shut up!" Steph's eyes narrowed in irritation.

Gwen could only look at her, dumbstruck. "He…talks about me?"

"Asks questions mostly." Steph's expression became hard to read. "Things like what music you like, the books you read, stuff you do outside of school and alien escapades and random crap like that. I asked if there was a reason for his questioning, then he flushed redder than you did and said 'Nothing,' He was so not subtle about it."

"And you told him?"

"Yeah!" Steph started counting on her fingers. "Taylor Swift, lil'bit o'Miley Cyrus when you're in the mood, M2M too. You're favourite if smoothie is strawberry, you like reading the classics, you like chick flicks and not horror, your favourite brand of shampoo is Herbal Essences, and your first pet hamster was called Hammy." She shrugged. "That's basically the stuff he was asking."

"And what do you know about _him_?" Gwen pressed.

"What am I, a secret agent?" she huffed before suddenly brightening up. "Actually, yeah! That'd be cool!" she struck a pose. "Super Secret Agent Steph, on the case!"

Gwen laughed. "He doesn't say much to me. Well, he did a bit about his family, but I didn't press him. He's not comfortable talking about it."

"Yeah," Steph frowned. "I know he has a little sister, but I don't know anything else. What's up with that?"

"Well, don't tall anyone else,"

"Sure thing,"

"His dad was reported Missing In Action on a mission, and they never found him. Then his mom met someone else who wanted Kevin to be something he wasn't, so he went a bit…"

"Mental? I would too. Oh, so that was his step dad? I went to the front door and he demanded to know who I was, and he wouldn't believe I was Kevin's friend. I wanted to say 'partner in crime' but I thought I'd better not in case I put my foot in it."

"I really don't know," Gwen felt sorry for him. "Sounds like he had it bad when he was younger."

"Hell yeah," Steph grimaced. "I would have derailed too if Gerald wasn't such an awesome guy. He always let Mel and I do and be what we wanted. Mel wanted to play the harp, I wanted to play the guitar, and he just let us get on with it. He's more like an uncle to us really…" she trailed away thoughtfully.

"I don't think Kevin's stepfather's a nice man." Gwen admitted.

"I didn't know who the guy was, but I thought he was a berk." Steph shrugged. "Anyways, anything else you want to know while the guys aren't around?"

"Is that _all_ he ever listens to? Heavy metal, I mean."

"Bit of rock here and there, like the good old rock music like Queen. He hates ABBA, pop music in general, but I haven't heard him complain about Taylor Swift," she laughed. "I would have thought that she was at the top of his list for dissing."

Gwen didn't say anything.

"You must have noticed, he hates Ben's smoothies,"

"That hadn't escaped my noticed," Gwen said dryly.

"And his first pets were two rats called Cheese and Biscuits." Steph concluded.

"What?" Gwen asked, laughing.

"Rats are awesome pets! Remember Dylan used to have three of them? He called them Uno, Dos, Tres,"

"I remember," Gwen said. "I didn't like them." She didn't like rats much; hamsters and gerbils were fine, but rats were just…ew.

"They were awesome," Steph grinned. "But yeah," she sobered up. "Just random bits of insignificant info that has no relevance to anything."

"Did he just tell you, or…"

"I had to poke him. _Real_ hard. With a screwdriver. In the eye."

Gwen laughed. "Of course," she could believe that.

"So!" Steph stretched her arms above her head and finished off her cone. "Dylan and Tom want to go back packing for a week. So it's juts you and the guys I'm afraid."

"Ben's going out of town to see his mother's cousin." Gwen said. "She's just had a baby."

"Oh." Steph went blank again. "Have fun then," she said uncertainly.

Great. At least an entire weekend without Ben and Steph. She didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I'm sure you and Kevin won't kill each other by the end of the week," Steph said absently, switching her phone back on to check her messages. "After all, that's _my_ job."

Her phone started bleeping loudly, and she stared at her phone. "Bloody…" she started muttering under her breath again. "And when you next see dipshit tell him from me that I will rearrange his organs in alphabetical order using a rusty spoon."

"What did he say?" Gwen leant over to have a look.

Steph handed her the cell phone and started swearing under her breath again.

There were 33 unread messages and 5 missed calls, all from _Kevin Levin_.

"Take the bastard, I don't want him…" Steph muttered.

"It would be nice if he had at least answered my call the other night," she sighed.

"He's avoiding you, because he _likes_ you," Steph snarled to herself. "If I had a boyfriend who constantly sent me messages like that I would rearrange his face."

All the text messages read '???????????' except for the last three that said 'PLZ!'

"He really wants that game." She said, surprised.

"Over my cold dead body – which, let's face it, ain't gonna happen anytime soon. So he can take that phone of his and shove it up-"

"Hey!" Someone called over to them.

Gwen froze; she shouldn't be so familiar with his voice by now, but she was.

"Argh!" Steph jumped to her feet and spun round to face him. "Kevin Levin I am going to have your head on a silver platter!"

"Why won't you text back?" he demanded. Apparently, he hadn't noticed Gwen sitting there on the swing.

"Because we're having a moment to be girls! I said _sod off_!"

"We?"

"Duh!" she pointed at Gwen. "Actually, no. Come 'ere, I wanna show you something," she leant down to her rucksack and grabbed a handful of earth from behind it.

"Steph," Gwen sighed. "I don't think-"

But she had already raised her hand the moment Kevin was within range and thrown it in his face.

By the time Gwen had finished her ice cream, savouring the taste, Steph and Kevin between them had nearly destroyed the play area. When they flopped to the ground by one of the benches, thoroughly exhausted, Gwen stalked over and stood before them, arms crossed.

"When you're both _quite_ finished." She said sternly.

They pointed at each other and proclaimed that it was the other who had started it.

"Did no!" Kevin snarled.

"So did!" Steph retorted, aiming a punch at his head.

Gwen sighed. Maybe spending the weekend with just Kevin wasn't going to be such a bad thing after all.

---

And there we have it! XD this was written over the course of a couple of days with copious musical interludes and psycho babble, so I'm not sure if it flows well, but I've gone back and proof read it (FOR ONCE!) and I think I've straightened out junk in general

**So, what should I make Gwen and Kevin go and do this fine weekend without the clowns around??? (evil grin) MWHAHAHAHA! Drop me a review and let me know! (cause the best I can come up with is the cinema and that kinda sucks without Ben and Steph because they can't be uber random….)**

**Also, on a random topic, have you guys watched season three??? I do when I get the chance, and I thought Kevin and Gwen weren't dating until I read on the forum that they were and apparently kiss and stuff all the time in private. I wouldn't have known that unless I had read it there. I know the show is aimed at younger kids, but I would have thought that they would put a little more emphasis on their relationship, you know, more than just holding hands and stuff like that. What do you guys think???**


	14. Fudge

**AN: ARGH! exam tomorrow and NOW the nerves kick in! :S Jesus I'm looking back and thinking I could have done so much more if I could have had those damn mark schemes!!! Anyways, before I rant and rave you all to an early grave, this is a short chapter, and I apologise for this. I've been revising (ha ha ha) and baby sitting (har HAR har) and watching The Water Horse (AWESOME FILM! :D) so this may be below the normal standard, but I have to sleep for this exam :S and then I am going shopping (because I need new jeans and new guitar picks -_-;;) and then having a sleep over! WOO! more inspiration, cause I can assure when my guitar comes out all hell breaks loose ;)**

**Also, a quick note to my reviewers, GOD I love you guys! I would mention you all by name, but there is little time left to me, so I shall do so in the next chapter, whenever that happens because, THE WEATHER MAN LIED TO US and we didn't have a snow storm down here but we will tomorrow and God knows how I'm going to get home on the public transport system in the area cause quite frankly it SUCKS. I would just like to say, whoever it was who wanted to hug a radioactive monitor, plz dnt! I don't want to be liable for sueing! :S here, have a virutal hug instead (HUGS!) I will make the next chappie EXtra long for you guys, cause I feel bad leaving you hanging and this was the best I could come up with -_-;;**

**Also, RK lol I looked it up on youtube. My readers have fine taste in music ;) and so does Kevin, apparently. As ever, I own nothing but Steph and any other OCs loafing around in this fic. Ah! Almost forgot, someoen asked where Steph came from. HA! Sure as hell isn't me, I wouldn't that out spoken all the time xD Steph is sort of a mixture of all my tomboy mates thrown together with a dash of alienness for good measure ;) I've tried to make her a more believeable character with all the colloquialisms we use in my area; PROPER southerner :D cause we see one flake of snow and ARGH! The city snarls up, we get stuck in traffic, and I sit back and think 'here we bloody go...'**

**blargh I'm going WAY off target here! Wish me luck! If my brain doesn't fry and the world doesn't ice over I'll be back and writing on Thursday and updating in the evening (bear in mind time zone differences cause I have NO idea how to wotk them out. I think there's 9 hours between BC and England, either before or after, I have no idea which xD)**

**ON WITH THE SHOW! (finally.....)**

_**Fudge**_

Kevin couldn't believe that Steph would abandon him to go backpacking with her brothers' whom she constantly complained about. And Ben was gone for the weekend too! How could they swan off into the sunset and leave him behind?

And it was only the other day Steph had proclaimed them mechanic buddies, too.

Either this was _really_ good or _really_ bad, a whole weekend with just Gwen, and no team mates sticking their noses in it or swooping in to ruin the moment.

Was it right that he was scared?

Wait, _scared_? _The_ Kevin Levin who had survived the Null Void from the age of eleven, was _scared_ by a girl? And why did everything rhyme in his head when he thought that?

Argh!

Stupid parents, they just had to give him such a lame name.

He really needed to stop thinking in rhyming couplets…

"Sup!" someone kicked the tyre of his car.

Kevin pushed himself out from underneath and glared up at Steph. Traitor…

"What do you want?" he snapped.

Steph looked mildly surprised. "Just swinging round to say bye," she said blankly.

Yeah, it was just Kevin who was rhyming everything today; even Steph wasn't stooping so low…

"Bye then," he said listlessly, wiping his hands on a cloth.

"Cheer up!" Steph said, grinning. "You got the whole weekend without me or Ben! Better rest up that brain cell," she gave him a friendly poke in the chest. "You won't get any peace when we get back,"

"Whatever," he stalked away to the other side of the room and busied himself with a toolbox.

"Gees, what bugging you?"

"Nothing," Kevin growled to himself.

"Whatever," Steph waved a hand in his general direction.

A car horn sounded outside. "Steph! Hurray it up, or we'll get stuck in the traffic!" someone yelled.

"Gotta go," Steph through something at Kevin. "Here, from Mel. A very Merry Unbirthday to you and Gwen. See ya!" she turned on her heel and sprinted out the door. "I called shot gun this morning Dyl, _get out of my seat_!"

A car door slammed, and her voice was whisked away with the breeze and the car revving, and then there was silence.

Wow. Silence. Now there's a novelty.

On closer inspection, the thing turned out to be a brown paper bag filled with what looked like homemade fudge. A little note cello taped to the back said, '_This is from my friend in Canada and she says hello to everyone. I thought you and Gwen might like some now before Steph and Ben come back and eat it all. Mel x x x_'

Kevin flipped the paper over, and saw another note scribbled on the reverse side in an unfamiliar hand. '_Hey Mel! Still not moved in yet, still breathing down the estate agent's neck about properties in Sooke, made some fudge with Taylor and sent you a box. I hear Steph's new 'alien buddy' has a bottomless pit for a stomach, so make sure the other guys get a look in! Lea and Miley thinking about invading America in the not too distant future, maybe you should invest in a decent set of earplugs… ;) See you in the summer maybe??? Luv, River xoxox_'

Homemade fudge? That was a kind gesture, though Kevin was a bit suspicious. The last time an anonymous person had sent him something 'homemade' it had been a bomb. He tentatively took a bite from one piece, and then downed it in one. Man! That was some nice fudge. Since Mel had a whole box of the stuff, he was sure Steph and Ben wouldn't mind loosing out this time…

He wrapped the packaged up and set it on the table before going back to his work. The silence was sort of creepy; he was so used to having the others around, Steph especially with her extensive screwdriver collection and her even more extensive glossary of profanities. There was always something happening around here; why did the life and soul go out of the place? He switched on the speakers and sifted through the junk until he found his play list and set it on repeat.

He was a total sap for relying on them so much just for the company. He had to work on the 'not being soft' thing.

But when someone rapped their knuckled smartly against the garage door and called, "Kevin?" he decided he would get round to it after Ben and Steph got back.

"Hey Gwen," he slid out from under his car.

He was very surprised to see she was wearing khaki coloured shorts down to her knees and a white tank top instead of her skirt and jumper. When he thought of Gwen, it was with a distant blue aura tinting those thoughts.

"Did I miss Steph?" she asked, dropping her bag onto the table by the package from Mel.

"She left about," he checked the clock on the wall. "…Half an hour ago?"

"Oh," her face fell. Then she picked up Mel's brown paper bag and looked inside. "Where'd this come from?"

"Mel. Some friend of hers in Canada sent it."

Gwen read the note, then took a piece and bit into it. "Mmm! This is really good,"

Considering nothing had exploded yet, Kevin was fairly certain that there were no hidden explosives in the fudge. He took that as a good omen for today. Gwen pulled a book out of nowhere and sat down by the table and began reading, so Kevin kept working on his car. He bet she had an infinite bag of holding; all girls seemed to. Even Steph did, no one could pack a rucksack like Steph, and she probably had everything but the kitchen sink amongst her camping gear.

"Huh," he said aloud. It felt weird remembering all the tiny insignificant details about his teammates like that instead of memorising hate lists.

"Mmm?" Gwen looked up from her book.

"Just thinking," he waved away the notion from under the car.

She couldn't see him, but he could see her; Gwen shrugged and went back to reading again. When she wasn't being pushy or nosey, she could be so easily contented, all it took was a good book and she could have been on Pluto for all the notice she took.

A bit like Kevin and his car, really…

It was quiet, but not silent; the music playing in the background, the sound of metal on metal, and the rustle of paper as Gwen turned a page. It was almost relaxing.

He still had to get round to getting some psychological help, he scared himself when he started rhyming in his head. In a bid to purge his mind of such artistic traits, he hummed along to the speakers, concentrating only on that and what his hands were doing. It seemed to help a bit.

---

Gwen was lost in Twilight again, reading about Bella's ever-dangerous life and her quest for vampire-ness. Eclipse just never got old, no matter how many times she read it.

Today though, her mind was preoccupied. Ben had left last night to miss all the day time traffic, and Steph had already swanned off without saying goodbye, do it was just her and Kevin. As he was slowly crawling out of that abnormally thick shell of his, Gwen decided that this was as good a chance as any to coax him out further with the other's not around. He was still a mystery to her, and she wanted to understand him; why he acted the way he did, the positive and the negative things.

In short, she had turned head shrink.

Steph had mentioned in passing the other day about the psychologist friend of Mel's up in Canada, who specialised in young criminals. Out of curiosity, she had snuck onto Steph's facebook and looked her up on the friend's list. River Collins was twenty-four, living in Victoria, British Columbia, and apparently loving every moment of it. She rambled on in her about me section about her psychotic job, but apart from that, Gwen hadn't gleaned much helpful information, and she wasn't sure if asking this girl she had never met before for help was a good idea.

Judging by the profile picture of a long legged blonde girl doing a hand stand on a drift wood tree on a beach somewhere and the dark skinned boys around her throwing food at each other, Gwen guessed River's friends were as mad as her own.

Kevin started humming to himself, which caught her attention. He rolled himself out from under the car and went to Steph's abandoned toolbox, rummaging around for something. The song changed to something unfamiliar, but he seemed to know every word, and even started singing along, apparently forgetting she was in the room. Either that, or he didn't care.

Gwen watched him prance back to his car and slide underneath it, and stifled a laugh. How very Steph-like that motion was.

"…_But yours would look better than mine 'cause you're out of my league,  
And I know that it's so clichéd to tell you that everyday,  
I spend with you is the new best day of my life,  
And everyone watching us just turns away with disgust,  
This jealously, they can see that we've got it going on,  
I'm racking my brain for a new improved way,  
To let you know, you're more to me than what I know how to say,  
You're okay with the way this is going to be,  
'Cause this is going to be the best thing we've ever seen,  
If anyone could make me a better person, you could,  
All I gotta say is I must have done something good,  
You came along one day and you rearranged my life,  
All I gotta say is I must have done something right,  
I must have done something right,  
And maybe I'm just lucky 'cause it's hard to believe,  
Believe that somebody like you'd end up with someone like me…"_

Gwen smiled to herself, peeking over the top of her book at him as he walked back and forth around the workshop. It was almost…what was the word she was looking for?

Sweet? Adorable?

She settled on cute as he began strumming an air guitar in sync with the speakers.

As he spun round, banging his head in time to the beat, black hair flying in all directions, he caught sight of her watching. The wrench in his hands clattered to the floor loudly, making him jump as the last notes died on the air, leaving a mortified silence in its wake.

Gwen wanted to laugh; he had the look in his eyes that a deer has when it gets caught in the headlights of a car. He turned on his heel and buried himself under the car again. She couldn't help the small giggle that escaped her throat, and she stuck her nose between the pages of her book and focused on the word _werewolf_. There was a silence from beneath the car, until the speakers clicked over to Steph's play list and began her belting out her favourite Avril Lavigne album.

Neither of them got up it switch over, so they sat through her whole collection. That took them till gone lunchtime, when Kevin finally crawled out and looked up at her sheepishly.

"Hungry?" she asked, putting her book down and checking her watch. "It's past half one,"

Kevin opened his mouth to say something, but his stomach growled loudly before he could get a word in. He tried to disguise his embarrassment, and made a show of getting to his feet and packing everything up.

"Fish and chips?" she asked finally when he ran out of excuses to confront her.

"I feel like a change," he admitted, leaning against the wall. "You?"

"I don't mind," she shrugged. "As long as its edible."

His eyes seemed to brighten, thought there was no extra light coming from anywhere. "I know this place by the park, sells _really_ good hotdogs. You interested?"

"Sure," she put her book away and stood up.

Was it a trick of the light? He seemed much brighter than normal, or was she just seeing what she wanted to see?

When he opened the passenger door for her, Gwen decided that she didn't care if she was looking through rose tinted glass. Steph and Ben were out of the picture for now, and she was going to take that advantage.

Kevin handed her the fudge packet before he closed her door and ran to his side, sliding across the hood of the car in an attempt to look cool.

She snorted softly to herself. "Show off," she muttered, taking a piece of fudge and throwing it into her mouth. Then, a devilish idea came to mind.

As Kevin sat down in his seat, he turned to say something to her, and she pushed a cube of fudge into his mouth. His eyes went wide, and he nearly choked, trying to recover some form of dignity. Gwen just sat back and folded her arms, smirking at him.

"Thanks," he muttered, starting the engine with a sulky look on his face.

She held the package out to him, and he sighed loudly. "Thanks," he said again, with real sincerity this time, taking another piece.

---

**SO! reviews plz, and I'll get my skates on (WOOO ice skating! :P I wish.... :'( ) and do somehting worth reading. But still ;) you're input is greatly appreciated! Till next time!**

**xxxx**


	15. A Walk In The Park

**AN: lol omfg I LOVE the person who wrote that exam! :D I revised everything that came up and I was like WHHEEEEEE! So this chapter is longer than the last, and I may have gotten carried away a bit…**

**Oki doki, here's my 'to-thank' list:**

**PickingRoses: ****aww thank you! :) you've always got a kind word for my chapters, even though sometimes I feel like I don't deserve it ;) I promise to keep writing as long as my fingers stay intact to keep hitting the keyboard :)**

**imsoboredidk:**** lol come to think of it, I miss Steph too xD don't worry, she's never too far away ;) (evil grin) MWHAHAHAHA! – Cough cough! – anyways, I just felt like subtly hinting earlier in this story about evil piano teachers ;) I used to have lessons, but after about a year of doing the same material over and over again I got bored. Then I found an old guitar in my attic and was like 'I CAN HAZ GUITAR LSSNS PLZ!' and now I play all day until my hands drops off, like Kevin :P**

**:0222:Þ****: rofl write on I will! And please, don't hug the radio active monitor :S I like my readers to be safe and sensible when it comes to radio activity, and that includes hugging objects that are active of the radio verity ;) if I send you a hug each update you promise not to put your life in unnecessary danger like that???**

**ffFTW****: haha lol I would hope you were joking :P I'll try to keep chapters longer, but when I have flipping exams I might just crash…lol Steph shall make an appearance, don't worry ;) (smirks evilly) you can't be rid of her that easily! Sort of reminds me of my guy friend who's always there when you don't want him and never there when you really want his company. Oh, I think I just realised where Steph's personality came from…. xD**

**PKfiyah!!****: I hope those double meanings of yours aren't going where I think they are! :S I'm not trying to imply anything explicit, this thing is rated T and not M for a reason, I just couldn't think of anything better at the time…and I was also eating some fudge at that moment in time :P**

**31einherjar****: OMG Kevin is such an interesting character! I try to keep faithful to the show (don't see why so many people make him look so sexy and badass in fics; I get the feeling that's not really him at all) :P especially to me because I've looked at studies on links between maternal deprivation and juvenile delinquency, and based on that I don't think he's a sociopath (based on the fact that it seems to be genetic and once a sociopath, always a sociopath. Kevin has too much empathy in Alien Force). Just very, very screwed up from childhood through (partially) no fault of his own. I have a theory on that, which might surface later on :P**

**ledah13****: Blargh I never trust the stupid local weather man, he's always off by miles (quite literally, in the sense that the snow/rain/whatever never falls where he says it does xP) lol yup, I checked, I'm not like Steph. I only ever use such language around people I know very well, and I tend to notice people's emotions more than other people and I don't piss people of quite as much… ;) lol I survived the exam! :D life is good :)**

**ON WITH THE SHOW! (story….thing….whatever……)**

**_A Walk In The Park_**

Kevin didn't know she had it in her to be cheeky or rude, but there was a first time for everything.

Gwen pulled her phone out and read a text message that had just arrived, and snorted softly to herself before replying.

Not that it was any of his business, but he just had to know, "Who's that?"

"My brother," she said vaguely.

Oh yeah, _Ken_ Tennyson. Kevin still hadn't gotten over how funny it was, but he'd sobered up enough after Steph smacked him one for drawing it out longer than need be. He'd only done it to wind up Ben, anyway; Gwen didn't seem to care. He still had the bruise from when Steph punched him for taking the joke too far. _Captain Obvious_ was a bit of a stinging name, a blow to his ego to be sure…

"What's he saying?" Kevin wondered aloud.

"That he hates his lecturers." Gwen sighed. "His head still hurts, and he's got a girlfriend now." She sounded a little _too_ off hand about that last comment, but Kevin kept his eyes on the road instead of her.

Ever since she accused him of 'mooning' at her he had been trying to be less conspicuous and a little more subtle about it. This consisted of mostly staring in the opposite direction to avoid any temptation; however, it was very difficult when looking in the opposite direction involved running off the road.

When they got to the park, he stopped the car and opened his door, wondering if he should go round and get Gwen's door as well, but she got out by herself.

Not that there was anything wrong with that, he reflected as he locked the car and set off towards the path by the pond. It was good Gwen didn't expect him to run around after her and stuff like that…

Why was it so hard to be nice and polite to a girl? They went on about being sexist and treating women like defenceless children, yet they demanded that men give them special treatment. Where did Gwen fit into the idea of feminism?

Why was he over thinking things anyway? Since when had he ever thought about anything before? Kevin was the kind of person who ran in head first without a second thought; that had been his whole life until recently.

It was in a daze that he ordered two hotdogs from the bored looking guy running the stall, and then they sat down on a bench by the pond to eat. Kevin was worried what Gwen though of eating with fingers, but she snarfed down the hotdog fasted than he had thought possible for someone who claimed to be mature and well mannered.

"This is good," Gwen sounded surprised.

"I wasn't gonna take you somewhere with crap food," he said, mildly insulted by her lack of trust.

She shook her head and laughed. "No, its just that every time Ben and Steph drag me out, they go to places with unpleasant food…and sometimes it makes me feel ill."

He had really sympathy for her; God only knew how many ways Steph could twist Gwen's arm, she was too kind to put her foot down on their crazy Avis friend.

When they were finished they went back for seconds. This was how Kevin spent a lot of his time, when he wasn't at home, in the workshop, or fighting aliens. Now, instead of being alone, it was just him and Gwen. He liked that. A lot. Maybe too much for his sanity…

"What now?" Gwen asked when they had devoured their second hotdog.

Kevin shrugged; he hadn't thought this far ahead. "Dunno,"

It was a few minutes before either of them did anything; they just sat there in comfortable silence until Gwen stood up and dusted the crumbs off her lap. "I have an idea," she said, grabbing her bag and setting off down the pathway around the pond.

"Hey!" Kevin scrambled to his feet and ran after her. "Wait up!"

Gwen laughed at his hurt expression as she stopped for him. "You're fine, I wasn't going anywhere you couldn't see me." She teased.

Kevin frowned, and then smirked at her.

---

There was that look in his eyes, the same look that he wore just before he threw a smoothie over Steph's head, the same smirk that sent her pulse racing every time it twisted his lips. What was he thinking?

Suddenly, he put his hands against her shoulders and gave her a shove so she stumbled backwards. It didn't hurt, but it still shocked her until he shouted, "You're it!" and ran away across the grass.

Gwen was stunned. She had _so _not seen that coming. Was that Kevin or someone who just looked like him? Nah, couldn't be; that was his smirk all right, and now he was laughing at her because she wasn't taking the bait.

Oh, two could play at that game.

Gwen steeled herself for a moment, and then sprang forward and ran full tilt towards him. She may look small and delicate, but she was one hell of a runner; Kevin looked shocked by the speed she put on, and turned to leg it.

It was the most stupid game she had ever played, tag with another teenager, but it was great fun. Every time Gwen nearly caught up, he suddenly dodged out of her way and was standing fifty feet away. They continued this way for about ten minutes, and Gwen failed to catch him every time. Damn him!

Then an idea sprang to mind, and Gwen ducked into a thicket just out of sight and began doubling back on herself, circling Kevin's current location so she could ambush him.

He stood on the top of a slight rise, looking back and forth, then down the hill. He put one hand on his hip, and the other scratched his head. He had his back to Gwen, which was just perfect for her attack. Silently, she crept forward out of the shadows and stalked closer to him.

When she was standing just behind him (still oblivious) she jumped up and threw her arms around his neck, shouting, "Got'cha!"

Kevin yelled and swung round to see who was attacking him, lost his footing, and they both tumbled down the hill. They landed in a heap at the bottom, and Gwen slowly opened her eyes, stretching her now bruised arm. That was going to leave a mark…

Her head was against something warm, and smelled slightly metallic, with oil and leather mixed in. then she realised she was leaning against Kevin's chest.

She sat up straight, and looked at him; he lay on his back, face turned to the heavens, eyes firmly closed.

"Ouch…" was all he said

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. That didn't go as planned…

He sat up slowly and blinked to clear his vision, then shook his head. "I'm good."

Gwen sat back slightly, and he turned to look her full in the face.

Was it a trick of the light this time? His eyes looked so different in the sunlight; they weren't black like she had originally thought. There were deep, earthy brown tones in them that she had never noticed before. How had she missed this? She gazed into his eyes enough times before; she should have known how many hues there were in his eyes.

It was probably impolite to stare like this, but Kevin was staring back with the same intensity, so she made no move to stir from where she sat.

Finally, though, the moment ended. Kevin took a deep breath and looked away, releasing her from his gaze, coughing to hide his embarrassment.

Gwen smiled to herself, and checked her bag again.

"So you wanted to do something, before we got carried away."

"Here," she stood up, and held a hand out to him. He hesitated for a fraction of a second before he took it and allowed her to help him to his feet. She let go of his hand and walked back up the slope to the pathway, her hand tingling in a not altogether unpleasant way. Gwen heard him follow, so she didn't look back until she was standing on the pathway again. "This way," she nodded down the path and started walking.

---

That had to be _the_ most stupid thing Kevin had done so far, and that was saying something since Steph had invited him and Ben round to make pancakes the other day and he had left Ben in charge of the eggs.

He hadn't expected Gwen to ambush like that; he had to hand it to her, she was creative when she wanted to be. When she had helped him stand up, his hand felt like it was getting shocked over and over again. Then she had released him and turned away, and his hand prickled painfully from the loss of contact.

Now she was leading the way down an unfamiliar pathway, heading to what looked like a tall, thick tree. He expected her to go around it, but instead she walked straight up to it, and grabbed the nearest branch before pulling herself up.

"Where are you going?" Kevin asked, bewildered.

"Up here," she answered, creating a platform to help her to the next branch.

He shrugged, and jumped up onto the trunk and started climbing. When he broke through the canopy of leaves, he saw she was sitting quite comfortably on a branch, watching the sky. He carefully crawled over and settled with his back against the tree trunk, about two feet away from Gwen.

"Sometimes I like to come up here and watch the clouds," she said, tilting her head to one side.

"You cloud gaze?" he asked.

"Yeah." She shrugged. "Just something I do."

"I used to sit in the living room and watch the fan go round," he said vaguely.

"Can't say I've ever done that," Gwen admitted.

Then they were quiet again, Gwen watching the clouds, and Kevin watching Gwen. She hugged her legs to her chest, tucking her knees under her chin, watching the fluffy white clouds migrating westward. Every so often she flicked her hair over her shoulders, only for it to sneak its way back again a few minutes later.

There was really no excuse for staring at her like this, but he couldn't quite bring himself to care.

Gwen was fascinating to watch, even when she wasn't doing or saying anything. Looking more closely, not caring if he got caught, Kevin started mentally counting the different shades in her hair.

It was so very sad, but he did it anyway; hair always looked different under certain lights, and natural sunlight was the best way to tell a persons true hair colour. Damn his art teacher to hell for telling them that. It was the one fact from a lesson about all the different American artists of the eighteen hundreds that he actually remembered, and then it had only been a passing comment made to another student.

Either way, Gwen's hair was captivating; so many tints to it that went right down to the roots, obviously not dyed. Red, auburn, bronze, copper…the list was endless.

Kevin's hands started itching again and he wished he had his sketchpad with him. The new project they had been given was on people's faces, and he so wanted to use Gwen as a subject. But that would sound _way_ to stalkerish if he asked her.

Then an idea sprang to mind, and he started mulling over the possibilities in his head as they watched the clouds float by overhead.

---

When Kevin had dropped Gwen back at her house, he went home and walked straight to the stairs, ignoring Cain as he stalked by, glowering at the trail of leaves and debris that Kevin trekked inside the house.

Once in his room with the door firmly shut, Kevin grabbed his phone and dialled Steph's number. It rang a few times before she picked it up.

"_Sup?_" she asked, surprised to hear from him. "_I'm not needed back for anything am I?_"

"Nope, just wanted to ask you something," he sat down at his computer and switched it on.

"_Go ahead, I'm listening._"

"Do you have any photos of Gwen I could borrow?"

Silence.

"_Say wha…?_"

"I know its sounds weird, but-"

"_You know you sounds like a stalker,_" Steph told him.

"It's not what it looks like!" he defended himself, holding the phone with his shoulder and chin so he could type in his password.

"_Looks like crap to me,_" Steph said mildly. "_Like this cow pat before me in this field,_"

Kevin laughed, dropping the phone in the process. "Sorry, dropped it," he muttered, chuckling to himself.

"_Of course you did. So, what's this non-stalker related reason?_"

"Well, I do art in school…"

"_Huh? You? Art? What? My head just exploded. You serious?_"

"Oh shut up!" Kevin snapped.

"_No, there's nothing wrong with it, gees! Don't get your knickers in a twist._" She rambled. "_Just that, you don't strike me as the type to enjoy throwing paint at a wall unless someone's standing in front of it._"

"Well, I need faces for this new project, and I thought-"

"_That Gwen would look real nice in your sketchbook?_"

Kevin glowered at his desktop.

"_Okay, okay! Calm down, don't throw anything at those poor defenceless walls. Okay…erm, you got Facebook?_"

"Yeah," finally, after everyone had nagged at him for ages over it.

"_Okay, go to my profile and look in the photo albums, you'll find tonnes of pictures there. And try Gwen's profile pics, there's dozens of good ones there. Oh! Gotta go, I'm supposed to be cooking the dinner,_"

"God help those brave men," Kevin pretended to sweep a hat from his head and salute her stepbrothers.

"_Yeah, yeah. Oi, Dyl! Sorry, I'll talk to you later,_"

"Bye," he said, the hung up.

He started up the Internet browser and went on Facebook. I didn't go on there much, to be honest, he had no reason to. Still, he was tagged in a lot of photos because Steph had an obsession with tagging. And taking photos, for that matter. She must have way more stored on that computer on her desk, but she might use up the Facebook online memory with those as well…

Kevin skimmed through Gwen's profile pictures, and saved a few that he liked and printed some. Sadly, the printed was in the corner of the dining room, so he had to go upstairs to get them. Crystal was sat at the table, doing her times tables and listening to the radio in the kitchen.

"What'cha doing?" she asked.

"None of your business." Kevin retorted, pulling the pages off the printer as they came. "Hey!"

Crystal snatched one from his hands and looked at it. "Is this your girlfriend?"

"No," he flushed, snatching it back.

"Yeah, this is that girl Steph said you liked." Crystal was sure of it.

Kevin's jaw dropped. If Steph had noticed his infatuation with Gwen, then it _had_ to be true. "Do not!"

She snatched the pages from the printer and ran out the door, singing, "Kevin and this girl, sittin' in a tree…!"

Kevin ran after her and picked her off the floor. "Its for an art project! Give them back!"

She screamed, naturally, and protested loudly, so Cain stormed into the hallway and demanded that Kevin put her down at once. Just to humour him, Kevin pretended to dump her on the floor, before carefully leaving her on the rug, and ran back down to his room before she could steal his print offs again.

The rest of the evening consisted of him compiling a portfolio for the project, and began some simple sketches. We wondered if Gwen would mind if he asked her to pose for him for the 'expressions' section they had to do. That would sound plain creepy if he asked her to pull faces for him.

---

Gwen really enjoyed their weekend; she didn't know why she had felt so nervous in the first place.

The second day she and Kevin sat on the grass, just sunbathing and lazing around in general. She nodded off at some point, and when she woke up again she noticed a scratching noise that she hadn't before.

Keeping her eyes mostly closed, she turned her head to one side in the direction of the noise.

Kevin was sitting cross-legged on the grass facing her, looking down at the sketchbook in his lap.

Was he…sketching her?

She opened her eyes, and immediately Kevin chucked his book into his rucksack.

"What's that?" she asked, yawning for effect and pointing at the bag.

"Just some art stuff," he muttered.

"You do art?" Gwen was intrigued.

"So?" he said defensively.

"Can I see?"

"No!"

Gwen sat up and raised an eyebrow at him before raising her hand. He created a cage of pink light around him and reached over to the bag.

"Hey! Don't!" he struggled against his bonds, but Gwen strengthened them.

She pulled out the thick, heavy book and flicked through to the page he had been working on.

That really was her, and judging by the detail to it, he had been working on it for some time. She had never thought of Kevin as the artistic type, but, as she flicked through the other pictures, he had a real talent for it.

Looking up, she saw he had his back to her, so she let the shield down. He fell flat on his back from surprise, and sat up quickly, still refusing to look at her.

Gwen crawled over to him and handed him the book. He looked away, so she poked him in the ribs. "You do art class at school?"

"Yeah." His tone was expressionless.

"You're really good at drawing." She said.

He still said nothing.

"I'm not mad," actually, she was very, _very_ flattered. Not that she'd say that out loud.

"You should be," surprise coloured his tone, though he refused to meet her eye.

"You know, if you wanted an art subject, you just had to ask." She said bluntly.

He looked at her this time, eyebrow arched high over the sceptical look in his eyes. "You don't think I sound like a stalker?"

"It's not like you set up cameras everywhere and follow my every move," Gwen laughed.

He laughed with her, and shoved the book back into the bag. "I need a break. Sometimes my hand cramps up when I draw."

"I'm not mad," she said again, in a softer tone. He was trying to be offhand about getting caught, but the look in his eyes said he was troubled.

"Kay." Was all he had to say for himself. "It's for school anyway," he gestured at the bag, pulling a face. "We have to do people's faces and stuff."

They were silent for a while, until inspiration hit Gwen.

She stood up, saying, "Want a hotdog?"

Kevin grinned. "Sure," he got up too, and they walked down the path to the stand like they had done yesterday.

"I wish I could draw," Gwen lamented out loud. "I'm terrible,"

"You can't be!" he protested.

She gave him a questioning look.

He shrugged. "You're amazing at everything," he blurted out, before blushing and looking away again.

"Want me to prove it?" she joked.

"Go on then," he challenged.

Gwen's eyes went wide. She hadn't expected him to concede so readily. "I haven't got any paper or pencils." She admitted.

"Here," Kevin took a pencil for his pocket and handed it to her.

"What about you?" Not that the lack of a pencil would stop Kevin Levin from getting his own way…

"I'll use this," he produced a pen and showed her before tucking it behind his ear.

She laughed. "Very artistic."

They bought their hot dogs, then meandered down to the pond and sat down on the rocks there. Kevin tore a page from the sketchbook and handed it to her, along with a thick tome on drawing the human body to lean on. They had agreed to spend five minutes drawing each other and then show their picture.

Gwen was going to get laughed at for sure.

"Okay," Kevin checked his watch. "Go,"

They started sketching.

---

She couldn't be that bad at drawing, she couldn't be.

Gwen kept her head down a lot more than Kevin did, so he decided to draw her that way; head down, slightly to one side (he had to shift his position to do so) with her hair hanging down in front of her shoulders. It was very rough and grainy…maybe, if she let him, he could improve on it later. This would be good for the 'in thoughtfulness' thing they had been assigned for homework.

He was so absorbed in drawing that a full fifteen minutes passed before he realised the time.

"Stop,"

Gwen bit her lip and looked up at him. "You're gonna laugh. A lot…"

He held up his picture, and gestured for her to do the same. "Show me,"

She put a hand over her eyes and held up the piece of paper.

Kevin actually fell off the rock laughing.

Her picture looked like a blob with black thatch around the top part with two wobbly lines for the neck. When he started to calm his breathing down, he looked up and saw her glaring at him, cheeks bright red with chagrin.

"Erm," he coughed loudly, then sniggered. "It's a good thing you're so good in school and stuff. I doubt you'd get anywhere in the art world unless you were a model or something,"

"Like the ones that pose nude and stuff?" Gwen demanded.

Kevin's eyes flew wide open. "That's not what I meant!" he panicked. He hadn't meant to imply anything like that! "Just saying you'd make good subject material, cause you're really pretty." God that sounded lame!

Her cheeks flushed again, and she looked away – his standard avoidance tactic – and mumbled something incoherent.

Kevin couldn't resist winding her up again. "Cause, no offence, but what you drew looks like a egg that someone draw in with felt tip pens!"

He should really learn when to keep his mouth shut. Gwen's eyes narrowed, and the next thing he knew he was under water, fighting to reach the surface. When he did, he only managed to get half a lungful or air before a familiar pair of small hands were pushing against his shoulders. He grabbed them and pulled her in after him.

He resurfaced, and shook the hair from his face, sending water everywhere. Gwen spluttered by his side, pushing her hair out of her face and striking out for dry land, shivering. Kevin swam after her and put his arms on the side of the pond, looking at her as she climbed out and began wringing her hair out. It looked more like copper and bronze now it was wet, and, pervy teenaged boy that he was, he noticed the way her blue and yellow tie-dye t-shirt clung to her body.

He worked to make his expression innocent. "You _did_ start it," he reminded her.

Gwen leant over, her expression rather sultry.

Kevin gulped. Maybe it was a good thing the water in this pond was in the shade of some tall trees and therefore rather cold. What was she planning to do?

Her hand cupped his cheek for a moment, her face mere inches from his, and getting closer all the time.

His mind went into overdrive and he had a full on panic attack in his head. What was she doing?! She couldn't possibly be about to do what he thought she was going to do…could she?

Her hand twisted itself into his hair, and her lips parted slightly. Even when she was soaking wet, he could still smell her scent. Her fragrance was like a cocktail of all his favourite fruit; strawberry, cherry, peach, and something else he couldn't identify.

Something pressed against his head and shoulders, and she tugged at his hair. Then he was underwater again. By the time he surfaced again, Gwen was running across the park in the direction of her house. He'd never catch up to her, but he'd give it half an hour before he called to make sure she was home safely. He was starting to not care whether or not it sounded lame in his head, just as long as nothing happened to Gwen.

Kevin climbed out of the pond and shook himself, sending water everywhere. He gathered up his things, and looked for the sketches; the only one he saw was the one Gwen had drawn. His one had magically disappeared.

He chucked everything into his backpack and set off for his car. He had a feeling he knew where that picture had wondered off to, and he found that he didn't mind in the least. Gwen's abomination of the art world was neatly folded and tucked into the back pocket of his jeans.

It was with a smile that Kevin got into his car and drove home.

---

Gwen ran all the way to her street, and then took a minute to calm herself down and walk composedly down the sidewalk and to the front door of her house.

She opened the door and snuck inside, quietly closing it behind her.

"Where do you think you're going young lady?"

Gwen squeaked with surprise and spun round. Her mother was sat on the sofa, eyebrow raised, and her father was standing behind her with a mug in his hands.

"Nowhere," she said hurriedly, hiding the sketch behind her back.

"Why are you dripping wet?" Frank Tennyson demanded.

"I fell." She said, stunned. "In the pond. At the park."

"Frank," her mother said quietly.

He pulled a face at them both, then marched into the kitchen.

Gwen ran upstairs and slammed her door shut, knowing she had only seconds.

---

Lily knocked on her daughter's door. "Gwen? Honey, can I come in?"

Gwen wrenched the door open, looking incredibly guilty. "Hi mom!"

She walked in and sat down on the bed. "Is there any reason why you're soaked?"

"I don't think you want to know," Gwen said in a subdued tone. She collapsed onto the bed beside Lily and covered her eyes with a groan.

"And what were you doing that made you fall into a pond?" She had been young once, and knew what drove young girls like Gwen to dive headfirst into ponds. This ought to be interesting…

"I was hanging out with Kevin." She paused, gauging her mother's reaction.

"And…?"

"He said something that annoyed me, so I pushed him in," she bit her lip, eyes darting to her desk, then back again. "But he grabbed my wrists and pulled me in too."

"And did he drive you home again?" She hadn't remembered hearing a car on the road before Gwen came in…

"I sort of walked home. Through choice!" she added hurriedly. "Kevin didn't get a look in, he was wrestling pond weed."

"Gwen!" Frank called from downstairs.

"Hang on!" Gwen yelled back.

"So, this Kevin of yours," Lilly began.

Gwen blushed like a rose in full bloom.

Guilty as charged.

"He's just my friend mom, he's not into girls like that." She said severely.

Lilly laughed at her expression. She had said the exact same thing when she was Gwen's ago about her first crush. "Of course dear. Go on, you're father's waiting for you."

"Gwen?"

"Coming!" Gwen ran out the room without a second glance, and Lilly set to work.

She searched that desk until she found what she was looking for. Underneath the computer monitor was a sheet of damp paper with a drawing on it.

It was a rough sketch of Gwen, sitting on a rock or boulder, looking intently at a square shape in her lap. The rough lines around her seemed to melt away, making her the centre of attention; the slight frown, like the one she wore when she was concentrating, was evident on he face, as was the infatuation of the person who had drawn it.

Lily smiled to herself, and carefully replaced the picture underneath the monitor and left the room.

Downstairs, Gwen was talking to Ben on the landline, planning to go to Mr Smoothies when he got back tomorrow. She put the phone down and smiled to herself, going to the stairs again. Then her phone on the sideboard starting ringing. Gwen frowned and went to answer it as Lily sat down to her book again.

"Hello? Kevin?"

Frank was suddenly standing in the kitchen doorway, nostrils probably flaring.

"Wait a bit before you call out the Spanish Inquisition." Lily said mildly.

He snorted derisively and went back into the kitchen, probably just standing out of sight beyond the lintel, since there were no sounds.

"Yeah, I walked home. Okay, I ran some of the way, but-" she stopped to listen. "No, cause I thought you'd throw me in again! Oh, come off it, you're as much a gentleman as Steph is," she giggled at his response. "Okay. You- huh? Oh," he cheeks went red again. "No, it's okay…keep it. Yeah. Okay. Well, I should probably go shower. You know, I'm freezing," she shivered slightly. "Well that's your fault!" she snapped. The she sighed. "Whatever. Hey, Ben's home tomorrow, wanna go for a smoothie or something? Okay, see you then, bye," she hung up and slipped the cell into her pocket, then danced up the stairs, grinning like an idiot.

"So," Frank advanced from the kitchen like a Sith Lord. "What's the verdict?"

"Gwen has a crush," Lily stated. As if it wasn't so painfully obvious.

He stalked towards the stairs with a spatula in his hands.

"Don't. Even. Think about it." Lily said menacingly.

Frank floated back to the kitchen, pausing to kiss her cheek. "Think about what?" he asked pleasantly, holding the spatula behind his back.

Lily rolled her eyes.

Time to break out the shotgun and whiskey, their daughter might be bringing home her first boyfriend soon. God preserve him, poor boy…

---

**Okay, so maybe I got carried away xD but that was fun to write!**

**So, I duno, should I do Peer Pressure next or go to What Little Girls Are Made Of???**

**Please review and let me know what you thought, you guys sick of fluff yet? Cause there's plenty more where that came from! :P you take care now! ;)**

**Oooooh, also; what medium should Kevin use in his master portrait? Water colour? Charcoal? Acrylic paints? Pastels? I duno, its been ages since I did art, and I only ever use my set of colouring pencils because I no longer have the right to waltz into the art room whenever I like and pilfer the supplies. Sad face :(**

**xxx**


	16. What Are Little Girls Are Made Of

**AN: blargh this is stupidly short :( I am now _officially_ back at school and the work is going to pile on. I think I should be able to update over the weekends frequently, but not so much during the week, since i has work to do. DAMN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM damn it to hell and back ¬_¬**

**SO! Anyways, I have decided to do from season one; The Gauntlet, Paradox, and X = Ben + 2. Then there shall be a little interlude of my own creation before we kick off with Darkstar Rising cause GOD I loved that episode :D I have a vague idea of where I want it to go in my little interlude, but I do not know if it should be an interlude of the music veriety. And I REALLY want Ben to play the drums, and I have no idea where that came from xD oh well, maybe Steph can go mental and bash it with her guitar or something....I'll work on it, promise! ;)**

**_What are little girls made of_**

It had started out as an ordinary day, nothing strange going on; just having fun with her friends, and then everything had been thrown upside down.

"_Your grandmother's a alien."_

Funny how such a small number of words can change the way you see things. Funnier still how quickly it all fell into place. Verdona wanted to take her to the Anodyte home world – for about seventy to eighty years. When you're only fifteen that seems like a very long time.

Gwen needed space; she couldn't breathe in that enclosed room. She ran up the stairs, leaving a stunned silence behind her. Steph murmured something, and Gwen heard feet on the stairs.

"Wait up!" Steph complained.

They took their sweet time getting up on the roof, but when the four of them were sat down in a row, she felt much better. Ben's continuous presence in her life was familiar, probably one of the only things about today that felt normal; Steph, legs dangling over the edge, arms folded behind her head and lying flat on her back starring at the sky, was emanating warmth both physically and emotionally.

And Kevin, by her side, completely silent, but like a balm that was trying to soothe the distress she felt.

Go to Anodyne and learn how to full utilise her powers?

Or stay here on earth with her friends and family?

Both had good and bad points. Wasn't she supposed to have a guardian angel that told her what to do or something? Mel spoke of guides throughout life that help in unexpected ways. Why did she feel so lost inside?

She could do more good for the universe if she could fully control her powers – but was it worth the price of leaving behind her entire life?

Ben was Ben; her cousin, more like her brother, and she'd love him no matter what. Steph was…well, herself; ultra intelligent, non-artistic, completely off the wall and a fierce friend.

And then there was Kevin.

He…

Gwen couldn't put her finger on it. Sometimes she would be having a bad day, or something went wrong, and as soon as she got into his car, or arrived at the workshop, anywhere that Kevin happened to be, she felt well again. He had an effect on her, like a drug, and she was hooked on him. He would listen to what she had to say, he wanted to know how her day had gone, going as far as to outright ask her about it.

Kevin was a bad boy, from the wrong side of the tracks, probably still dabbling in illegal tech, but he was also sensitive underneath that bravado, and kind hearted, and stunning to look at, and so very distracting at the moment…

Gwen kept her eyes fixed dead ahead, trying not to look at him. All the little things he did, like sketching her while she dozed on the grass, playing her favourite music in the car (granted, when the others weren't around to complain about it), paying for her smoothie and steadfastly ignoring her presence when she demanded that he take her money; everything he did made her like _like_ him all the more

She listened to what Ben had to say, then Steph pitched in, blunt as ever.

"Well, the way I see it is, that you could swan off to the other side of the galaxy and leave us all behind so you can learn to control your powers; or you could give up that one-in-a-million chance so you can spend the rest of your life putting up with us." She shrugged, but Gwen wasn't watching.

She focused her attention on Kevin, who was still silent. Odd, he normally voiced his opinions regardless of the situation, and mostly when it was least appropriate. Especially when it was least appropriate. What was going on inside that skull of his?

"Kevin?" she asked hesitantly, turning to look at him. "Do you feel the same way?"

He rounded on her, eyes blazing with suppressed emotions, most of which she couldn't name. "No. Why would you even think that?" he looked away, and the pain in his eyes was so evident Gwen felt something tug at her heartstrings. "I want you around. The whole things lame."

The light from the street lamps caught in his hair as he looked at her, framing his face. It was the weirdest thing to compare him to, but in that moment he reminded her of a statue of an angel she had seen five years ago, in a catholic church they had stopped to see on their road trip. A sad, longing expression, trying to hide the emotion by clenching his jaw; his eyes gave him away.

A balanced argument, from her parents and Ben. Even _Steph_.

And Kevin was one-sided.

The one person unwilling to let her go, even if it was selfish.

A tiebreaker.

Gwen's heart melted, and she reached for him, expecting to be pushed away. Instead, he froze, probably unsure of how to react. She kissed his cheek, hoping to convey her feelings.

As she descended the roof she heard him calling after her.

"Lame. Lame! _Lame_!"

A dull thud.

"Ouch! What-?!"

"You probably just scared her off you idiot," Steph teased.

A louder thud.

"Bastard! Why I oughta-!"

"C'mon, Steph…" Ben sighed.

Gwen smiled to herself as she slid inside and went to the stairs. How could she give this up?

She made her decision; now all she had to do was tell Grandma Verdona.

Simple, right?

---

When she asked for his opinion, he couldn't hold it in any longer; he said the words that were burning in his throat like acid.

She couldn't go. She couldn't leave. She just couldn't.

It was so selfish of him to want her to stay, but he knew he'd sliding down that slippery slope again right now if it wasn't for her. And it was more than that, far, far more than that. Besides the fact that she was the only solid anchor in his life, her felt as though she gained from their friendship too; only the other day she had asked if he could teach her to draw, and they had made plans to go out and find inspiration to sketch next week if they weren't under attack.

Kevin managed to get the words out, and not sound like a five year old sulking. The way she looked at him…so strange; like he was the most wonderful thing she had ever seen. Yeah right! He looked away, unable to meet her gaze anymore.

It gave him the shock of his life when she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. He couldn't help but raise his hand to touch his cheek, a goofy looking smile tugging at his lips.

Wait! Was this goodbye?

"Lame!" he called after her, emphasising just how lame life would be without her.

Steph punched him in the gut, and an argument ensued. Ben dragged Steph away, sighing to himself.

When the others had gone, Kevin looked up at the night sky, just in time to see a shooting star fly past overhead.

"Lame." He told it, before following Ben back inside.

He could always throw her in his car and drive away fast if he had to.

Yeah, and another thing that was lame; that idea.

Kevin couldn't quite work out if the whole talking-to-himself-in-his-head was getting better or worse with Gwen around. He mentally gulped at the thought of finding out by losing her.

---

It was two days after Verdona had been and gone, and Ben wondered aimlessly around the park looking for something to do. Steph was off doing…something Hannah Montana related with her sisters, which she would be moaning about next time they were on patrol.

He heard a twig snap close by, and his reflex reaction was to duck and roll to one side, hand on at the ready to hit the watch. It gave him a surprise when he saw Gwen stalk by, leaves stuck in her hair and a snarl curling her lip.

"Maybe I should have just said yes while I had the chance…" she muttered darkly before she disappeared from sight round a corner.

Puzzled, Ben pushed his way through the undergrowth and squeezed into a small clearing and found Kevin sitting cross-legged on the grass, trying his hardest not to laugh.

"What's pissed Gwen off?" Ben demanded to know.

Kevin handed him a piece of paper without saying anything, trying to stuff his fist into his mouth to stifle his mirth. Ben took one look at the mass of blobs, and frowned. What was this supposed to be?

"I don't get it, what's so funny about psychiatrist ink blobs?"

Kevin, still shaking with laughter, pointed at the paper, and then towards the pond, which had a collection of lily pads and frogs sitting on them. Ben looked at the paper again, then up at the pond, before shifting his position to stand next to Kevin, and then placed the paper in his line of vision before the pond. The blobs matched up with the positions of the frogs.

Ben burst out laughing, and actually fell over, clutching his sides. They both sat there like idiots, crying eventually from the pain in their ribs and the lack of air. Finally, they regained their breath and calmed down; Ben wiped the tears from his eyes, and Kevin mopped his forehead. They exchanged eye contact for only a brief moment, but it set them laughing again.

Someone nearby growled in frustration, and Ben found himself airborne. He and Kevin were thrown into the water with a powerful shove, and they fought each other to get to the surface. Ben coughed a lot of water up, and Kevin was fending off a stubborn piece of pondweed. They both looked up to see Gwen standing there, eyes bright with fury, fists clenched, manna pulsating in a dangerously bright way.

"Argh!" she threw her hands up in the air and stomped away, visibly fuming. By all rights there should have been smoke coming from her ears.

"Gwen!" Kevin lurched forward.

Ben tried to stand up, but Kevin put his hand down on his head to get enough leverage to climb out, so he fell backwards again and was submersed in water. When he resurfaced, there was a lily pad on top of his head and no Kevin to be seen anywhere.

"Gees thanks Kevin!" he yelled after him, fuming as much as Gwen had.

A frog jumped onto the pad on the crown of his head, and Ben sighed.

"Ribbet!" it croaked.

"I hate Monday's…" Ben whined to himself.

---

**So, good, bad, meh? I know, crappy SO short but I'll work on that later, when I'm not juggling psycho babble because now we've moved on from attachment to 'abnormalities' and how to classify them. So far one random European guy (no idea which country :S) claims that there is no such thing as abnormality and goes on to list why and I forgot this list....hmm this is not good :S**

**Anyways, reviewz plz you guyz R t3h best! :P VIRTUAL HUG FOR ALL!!!!!!!! and a cookie of your choice :P except white chocolate. Because that's my favourite and I called SHOT GUN!!!! ;)**

**xxxx**


	17. The Gauntlet

**AN: argh sorry this took forever to write and post, I got roped into baby sitting and the poor baby kept crying cause he has a sore throat and I think I still need to syringe the blood from my poor ears... I felt random, so I wrote random. Okay, I missed loads from this particular episode, mainly because I'm lazy as hell and I can't remember all the lines, so meh.......**

**Also, thank you it was brought to my attention that I am neglecting poor old Steph so she shall be making more appearances in later chapters, but for the moment (i.e. this particular chapter) I feel like a fluff moment. My definition of fluff momement is a paragraph. Or two. Maybe Three. I do not know, we shall see, and I am considering bringing a wii into the mix because when the baby was mostly quiet I was playing with three other kids on one and GOD I died laughing it was so much fun and I can think of many ways you make you laugh till your lungs explode as well ;) not that I'm killing you all on purpose :S I love you guys! Have a hug! -HUG!-**

_**The Gauntlet**_

"I'm sorry!" Steph said frantically, running around the attic room looking for something on the shelves, under the bed, behind the sofa; anywhere that a book could wonder off to by itself.

The new computer monitor sighed heavily.

"_Steph,_"

"I almost have it!" she called over her shoulder, lying.

"_Steph!_"

"Hang on!"

"_I have to go cook soon, hurry it up_,"

Steph found it finally, on the counter in the tiny shower room. "Got it!" she flounced back to the seat by the desk and held it up to show the girl on the screen.

River Collin's rolled her eyes. "_And my plectrum while you're at it?_"

"Come on, one miracle a day is enough!" Steph huffed. All that effort, for nothing! Some people…

"_So, you found my Fearless piano book. Woot. When can I have it back? I sort of need it for that competition in the summer._"

"Can I mail it to you?" she asked, checking the address book. "Hey, what's thingy's address anyway?"

River sighed, then reeled off the house number, street, reservation, island, state, country, planet, galaxy, and Steph gave her a scowl.

"_And Paddington gave the girl a hard stare._" She laughed.

"Shut up." Steph snapped.

"Steph! Gwen's here to see you!" her mother called from downstairs.

"Come on up Gwen!" Steph yelled back.

"_So, how's life treating my Avis buddy?_"

"Meh," Steph didn't care to be frank. After the last little episode of almost losing Gwen and then having her jumping down Steph's throat because Kevin hacked her off, not much had happened in Bellwood. Except that Mecha-what'cha-ma'call-it thing last night, of course.

"_Stop steeling my catch phrases!_" River whined. "_I have to think of new stuff now before I come down to see you,_"

Gwen came through the door and called, "Hey,"

"Hey!" Steph grinned at her. "Come meet my web cam buddy!" Gwen squeezed onto the seat beside her. "Gwen, River. Riv, this is my energy buddy Gwen,"

She gave Steph an almighty dig in the ribs and scowled.

"Ouch! That hurt!" she grumbled.

"_Pleased to see you._" River said sincerely.

Steph rolled her eyes.

---

River was rather young looking, with long blonde hair that was pulled into a messy ponytail at the back of her head. The image on the screen was distorted somewhat, so eye colour was hard to tell, but her smile was evident enough. The background behind her was of a typical student digs, with a bed, what looked like a chest of draws to one side and a guitar lying on the duvet. Posters of Twilight and Taylor Swift were on the walls.

"Hi," she said to the woman…girl…who was she?

"Riv is Mel's Psycho babble friend." Steph supplied.

That's who she was!

"_And I've been struck off the study_." River pulled a face.

"What now?" Steph demanded, hacked off to the highest degree.

"_I'm too openly friendly with the kids. Despite the fact that this group of psychologists are supposed to be big on being ethical. Treated them like lab rats, so they wouldn't do half as good in the tests for them than they did for me, which spoiled the results._" She shrugged. "_I was 'asked to leave'. And the kids boycotted their tests and experiments unless I came back._" She smiled widely and laughed. "_Bless their hearts. The study had to close eventually because they didn't churn out the results the board was looking for. And of course the head of the study blamed me and the guy who struck me off._" She looked rather smug at the thought.

"Just keeping making friends wherever you go," Steph teased.

"What do you do?" Gwen asked, trying to remember what Steph had said ages ago.

"_Criminal Psychology. I work with juvenile delinquents._" She smiled at Gwen through the screen. "_My _superiors_ would have you believe they are all psychopaths. A lot of them are actually really nice, at least to me_."

"Yeah," Steph flicked through a book on the desk. "Cause you always talk to them like they're human."

"_Well, last time I checked, they were capable of emotions and they actually _wanted_ to do tests to please me because I gave them a positive attitude. But I'm rambling on about psychobabble. Distract me,_"

"Gwen likes Taylor Swift!" Steph crowed, flicking through the book still.

"_Speaking of which,_" River became stern. "_I want my book back. Sometime this century would be nice_,"

Steph gulped, then Michelle called from down stairs and she was already on the steps before she had finished.

"_Coward._" River said flatly.

"Um…River?"

"_Yes?_"

She seemed nice enough; she was friends with Mel, after all, and that counted for a lot. She might not get another chance to talk to her about this

"I have a question, but I think it sounds wired."

"_Honey, I deal with messed up kids the whole time, and I have five brothers. Nothing can weird me out, trust me._"

Heartened by her words, Gwen took a deep breath and said, "I have a…friend, and I want to ask some questions."

"_Psychoanalysis? Sure, free of charge!_" she joked.

"You heard of Kevin Levin?"

"_Oooh, let me see…_" she left the screen for a moment, and came back with a huge binding folder. "_I read a file somewhere…Okay, basically I get kicked off a lot of studies since I graduated because I get too involved with the participants which distorts the results of the experiment, but I read this when I applied for the Plumber's job._" She produced a piece of file paper. "_Here we go! Rambles on about sociopaths and random junk, but it talks that guy you mentioned. Nothing about what happened after he was released though, some people are terrible at keeping notes on theses things…_"

"Well, I wanted to ask your opinion on something…"

"_Are you talking to River or Dr Collins?_"

"Can I ask _you_?"

"_Sure honey, go ahead, just let me shove this back in its file. God, I have to get rid of some of this…_"

"Well," she said once the file was safely stowed away. "We're getting along with him really well. Way better than I ever thought possible. Can someone recover from a traumatic past?" she said in a rush.

"_Hmm…" _River cast her eyes to the ceiling for a moment, folding her hands behind her head. It was then that Gwen noticed that she spoke with a slight Canadian accent. "_There are a lot, and I mean a _lot_ of factors that contribute to question like that. That file,_" she spat jabbing a thumb off screen, "_just goes on about what he _did_ and nothing what so ever about what happened before that. Or afterwards for that matter. I could think of many things that would drive someone to crime_."

"Like?" Gwen asked, on the edge of her seat.

"_Erm, lemme think…there's social upbringing, the financial aspect, the culture you grow up in, individual temperament, sometimes its genetic, and a good one is good old Bowlby's theory of Maternal Deprivation-"_

"What does that mean?"

"_When you're a baby you form attachments to your care giver. It's about surviving and things like that. At a young age, say between two and, oh…say up to seven years? If you are frequently detached from your primary caregiver, which half the time is your mother, than later on in life, around the time of adolescents, you are more likely to be what we psychologists term as an 'affectionless psychopath' which basically means you don't care what you do or what the consequences of those actions may be. But, like I said before, the temperament of the individual hugely effects how you turn out. I get a feeling there's more to your question._" It was a statement.

"I don't know what to make of Kevin sometimes," Gwen admitted, feeling stupid.

"_Hey, he's a guy. There's something defective with the Y Chromosome. A friend of mine wrote a paper on it and tried to get it published just to see if she could, but that's another story._" She laughed. "_I can't say either way, because I don't know Kevin personally, but I'm keen to hear your thoughts. Not that I'm using anyone as a guinea pig, but I can take those experiences into another study. If I'm allowed to._" She looked bored by the thought of being denied another study to work on.

"Well," Gwen briefly outlined what she knew about his background, and then about the most recent events in her life, which included everything they did together. River sat quietly and listened, nodding every so often to show she was paying attention.

When Gwen had finished, River was silent for a few moments before saying, "_Jesus Christ. I would probably have derail too if that had happened to me. Guess I should thank my lucky stars. He had it rough, _real_ rough, poor kid. Still,_" she looked thoughtful, eyes focused on something other than the web cam. "_You can't cure a sociopath, it's written in their DNA, you can't change someone's physiology like that. And he sounds full of empathy from your observations, and I doubt you'd be so bias about someone."_ Her smile was irritatingly knowing. _"He sounds annoying, like my younger brother. And a handful, but you speak highly of him_."

Gwen blinked. Had she?

"_Boys,_" River said dramatically. "_You know when they _really _like you, though_."

"How?" she blurted out.

River laughed, and Gwen blanched. _"Honey, don't take it like that. It's just that I remember what its like to have a guy chasing you. Believe me, when I met my boy friend and he split up with his ex, it was all fun and games until he declared himself."_

"So what is it now?"

"_So cheesy I think I'm going to die from cholesterol poisoning."_

"So, how do you know if a guy is chasing you?"

"_Well, having had five brothers and their mates round a lot while I was growing up, I know boys quite well. They made me laugh the same way my friends do when we mess around together, but when Taylor makes me laugh, there's something about the light in his eyes that tells me he's doing it for more reasons than just having a good time with a friend."_

"I don't understand," Gwen admitted.

"_He just does silly things at his own expense to make me laugh, like throwing ice cream over his face or something equally stupid, and it makes him happy to know he's made me laugh. Sorry, it's difficult to explain really. You have to experience it first hand to know what I'm on about."_

Someone called somewhere, a low buzz in the background.

"_I'll be right there, don't touch the-!"_ there was a muted crash and scream, and River placed her face in her hands, _"-tray. You muppet Chris…Sorry Gwen, I have to run and sort this out, my housie burnt himself on the oven again."_

"Okay. Thanks," she added before River could go.

"_My pleasure,"_ she smiled again. "_Hey, you ever want to talk to me, about anything; school, jobs, boys, bitchy girls, the sea, single celled amoeba, whatever, get Steph to give you my number._"

Gwen decided she liked River a lot.

"Thank you,"

"_Gotta run before he screams the house down,_" and she ran out of sight.

Steph bounced into the room and scowled. "Where'd she go?"

"Someone burnt themselves." Gwen said.

Steph snorted with laughter, then flopped onto the futon. "Bet you _anything_ it was Chris."

---

The following day was just one of those days.

Ben nearly got it handed to him, but he turned to tables on Cash, and walked away very dignified with smoothie all over his jacket, to cheers from all sides. Gwen was proud of her cousin for not stooping so low, but as the day wore on into evening and Kevin suggested a diner nearby that did good pizza, she wished he and Steph weren't around.

"I would have decked him one." Steph declared, playing chauffeur for a change with her rusty jeep. Kevin had parked his car near by the diner earlier and decided to walk all the way to Steph's house, only to find them coming back to the exact same spot again, which should have made him grouchy, but he wasn't as hacked off as he should be.

"He's not worth the energy," Ben sighed, staring out the window.

"He's worth mine! Bring it bitch," she raised her fist at the window.

Gwen poked her in the ribs.

"Ouch! What did I do? Seriously, why would you hit the driver?"

"I'm not." Gwen glowered.

"Come off it," Steph snapped. "You never hit Kevin when he's driving, and he's way worse than me,"

"Do not!" Gwen protested to loudly.

Ben raised an eyebrow at her from the back seat, and Kevin beside him looked off into the distance through the window, avoiding everyone's gaze.

"You're so racist to me!" Steph whined.

"How?" That had caught Kevin's interest again.

Gwen rolled her eyes; trust him to look Steph in the eyes and not her.

"Is it cause I is Avis?" Steph asked, pulling the car into a parking space.

Both Kevin and Ben leant forward and poked her hard in the back and sides, so she writhed and screeched. "Bastards!"

"Would you all please grow up?" Gwen snapped.

"She started it!" the boys said in unison.

"Grrragh!" Steph spun round and reached with her long arms to grab them both by the fronts of their shirts.

"I don't care who started it. I'll _finish_ it!" Gwen held up her fist, glowing with manna.

Steph looked the boys in the eye and said, "You're dithhhhspicable." She shoved them away from her and stormed out of the door.

"Gees," Ben muttered darkly to himself, following Kevin to the diner. "Someone's grouchy today."

"There's a pattern," Kevin pointed at Steph's retreating back. "I've seen it a lot, especially in girls. They get cranky when they don't eat enough."

"Hey, that's actually true!" Ben looked amazed that they had come to this conclusion. "You should see Gwen on a diet,"

Gwen took a very deep breath and squared her shoulders. _Rise above it, rise above it_, she repeated in her head, trying hard not to stalk past the boys after Steph. She heard Ben laughing, but the door swung shut in his face before she could hear Kevin start as well.

Steph motioned for her to sit in the window seat at a table and glared at the boys as they also sat down. Kevin had the good grace to look ashamed, or that may have been because Steph kicked him in the shins.

A platinum blonde waitress with dark eyes and sallow looking skin took their order, trying and failing to catch Kevin's eye. Ben had his head down, texting someone, so he remained oblivious. Steph sniggered at Kevin's uncomfortable expression, and seemed to decide all was forgiven. She whipped out her PDA and started messing around with it, beckoning Kevin to come squeeze onto the seat and see what she was doing.

They were in cahoots in a few moments, silently laughing at something. Gwen felt a twinge of envy at how easily they seemed to be getting along, and nudged Steph with her foot to try and break it up. Steph face planted into the table, shaking from suppressed laughter, and Kevin handed the PDA to Gwen so she could see what was so hilarious.

Steph had hacked the wireless receiver in Ben's phone, and was reading all the text messages he was sending and receiving. A lot of mushy texts to and from Julie. Gwen was hard pressed not to laugh as well. They all managed to recover enough to take the pizza when it arrived, and Kevin slid back to his side of the table and looking pointedly at Gwen's bag by the window and not the obnoxious blonde waitress who tried to get his attention again.

Ben smirked at Kevin as they all dug in. "She _likes_ you," he said smugly.

"Who?" Kevin asked through a mouthful of pizza.

"Charming," Gwen snorted.

He quickly chewed a swallowed.

"That girl over there was so flirting with you," Ben sniggered.

That threw Kevin for a moment. Steph just couldn't hold it in anymore, and she burst out laughing. "Hark whose talking!" her PDA was safely out of sight in her pocket, so Ben would never know.

"Excuse me?" he was confused.

Steph quoted all the mushy lines she had read, making the other two fall over laughing and Ben go bright red.

"How do you know that?!" he demanded.

Steph placed her splayed fingers over her temples and smiled serenely at him. "I'm psychic."

Ben didn't seem to know whether she was being honest or not, but gave her a wary look none the less, shifting further away from her in his seat.

They ate in silence until Steph banged her fist on the table top, making them all jump.

"Gwen," she shoved her hand into her pocket and brought out her phone. "Before I forget, River's got this new deal on the phone line in the house she's staying in, a flat rate for all international, national, and local calls to all landlines. She wants your number so she can call you instead of you calling her and racking up a massive bill."

"Oh," well that was very nice of her. "Of course, give it to her,"

Steph messed around with her Internet access for a bit before shoving it in her pocket. "Sent her an email. Add her on Facebook too, if you like."

"Who's River?" Kevin demanded to know.

"The one who cheated on her boyfriend with the snowman," Steph said without missing a beat. "Here," out came the phone, on went Facebook, and she threw it in his general direction. "She's a psychologist. And a lot of fun. Check out the most recent photos, they are _hilarious_."

The next few minutes were spent eating pizza, passing the iphone around and laughing at the pictures. River was very active, in the sense that many of the photos involved someone getting picked up, chased, thrown into water, cooking batter or something equally evil. One such picture was of her – the only fair skinned, blonde girl in the group – and five burly dark skinned men sitting on a bench by a harbour eating ice cream, and one of said men with it all in his hair, the others laughing at him, and River blissfully unaware. Something about the serene, happy look on her face reminded Gwen of darling cousin when he had his smoothies.

"So many summers on Vancouver Island," Steph said dramatically. "Most of those aren't on here. I don't have the files and River won't put them up. Shame really,"

"I'll take your word for it," Kevin said, reaching for another slice of pizza.

---

Hanging out and messing around like this had become the highlight of Kevin's life. Trust Steph to come up with something so simple and pointless to make it hilarious. Ben slowly re-entered social interactions, but mostly listened and said nothing, which was weird for him.

Kevin reached for another slice, and felt another hand brush against his. Looking up, he saw a pair of bright emerald green eyes looking back at him. Kevin pulled his hand away like he had been given an electric shock, because that's exactly how his hand felt. It felt tingly, almost like it felt to absorb electricity, only there was no outlet, and it was quite pleasant, not in the _watching the whole world burn_ sense anyway.

Gwen took the pizza slice and carefully broke it in half, offering him the larger piece. Would it look too obvious if he tried to touch her hand again and make it look like an accident?

He was spared the trouble when Steph looked from one face, to the other, and then went in for the kill. That poor pizza slice didn't stand a chance; it was gone in three seconds flat.

"I was gonna eat that!" Kevin complained, more for the loss of a legitimate excuse to touch Gwen's hand than for the loss of food.

"Well you two were just staring at it." Steph snapped back.

"Food is for eating." Ben put in, taking another slice and shovelling it down whole. "Not for looking at."

"Or…" Gwen started rearranging the slices on the plate, and they all watched her. It made no sense until she leant back and said, "Ta-da!"

She had made the Plumber's insignia, the Galvan's universal sign of peace, completely out of margarita and pepperoni with mushrooms and five types of cheese.

"Cool." Steph gave her the thumbs up, frowning. "What is it?"

"Duh!" he pulled out his badge.

"Oh! I get it," she laughed. "Go you Gwen, you don't fail completely at art!"

Gwen blanched.

"I'm way worse, watch," she messed around for a few minutes until she sat back and pointed. "Go ahead, laugh."

Kevin tried looking at it from every angle, but he couldn't work out what it was. "Um," Gwen tried to be tactful. "It's very…unusual."

"Not really." Steph stated bluntly.

"I looks like a blob." Ben said.

"That's cause it _is_ a blob." Kevin confirmed.

"It's supposed to be your car," Steph muttered.

"What!?" he could not believe his ears. "My ride? You serious?"

"It's the only inspiration I've got!" Steph snarled back. "It's like _right_ out there!" she pointed across the street outside the window.

Kevin was seething. His car was _not_ a blob. Stupid Avis…

"Calm down, Kevin. It's not the end of the universe if Steph makes a picture that looks like a blob." Gwen said calmly.

Despite his anger, he did calm down, so quickly he wound himself up again because he was suddenly nervous.

"I dunno," Ben said, putting his foot in it and looking from the pizza to the car and back. "It kinda _does_ look like attack of the blob in here," he nodded to the pizza. "Ouch!" he jumped a mile high.

Judging by Gwen's gritted teeth and the stunned look on Ben and Steph's faces, she had just kicked him. Very hard. In the knees by the sound of it.

Painful…

Ben whined, Steph huffed loudly, and Gwen glared out the window.

Kevin's stomach twisted painfully at the line between her eyebrows. He had to do something to cheer her up, but he didn't want to open his mouth to say something in case his just pissed her off some more. Then he saw the drinks straws for the bottles of coke they had ordered, and inspiration hit him in the face.

He took up the straws, ripped the paper wrapper away and said, "Hey, Gwen,"

He stuffed them up his nose as she turned to fix her glare on him instead of the window.

Kevin started breathing out through his nose, making the air whistle down the straws, going cross-eyed for added effect, not caring that Ben and Steph were giving him odd looks. He watched as the corners of Gwen's mouth twitched, then curled up, before she leant forward against her elbows, face buried in her hands, laughing at him.

He honestly didn't care, just as long as she was happy and not frowning like thunder. He loved the way she laughed, and this had to be the first time he didn't care about how lame it sounded in his head; that was the truth, and it was too late now for either of them. In too deep…

When Kevin finally removed the straws from his nostrils, Steph said, "Okay," she leant against the table and counted on her fingers, "the whole mutation thing, absorbing materials and electricity and shit, 'kay, cool, I can live with that. But based solely on that performance, mate, you're a freak in my book."

There was a deadly silence around the table, and Ben and Gwen exchanged a nervous glance, probably gauging Kevin's reaction and expecting a nuclear explosion.

"What makes you say that?" he asked back, his voice thankfully staying even.

"Oh, come on!" Steph said, as though it were to most obvious thing ever. "Who does that?! I mean, _seriously_! Sticking straws up your nose? Did someone drop you on the head when you were a baby? What made you think it was socially acceptable to do something like that?!"

Kevin laughed and shrugged it off. Meh. As long as Gwen was smiling, which she was now that the storm had blown over, and that was all that mattered to him.

They all chipped in to pay the bill, and left the diner, deciding to split into groups; Ben had to go to soccer practise, and Steph had to go that way to the stores anyway, so Kevin would drive Gwen home in his car.

"Um." Steph raised a hand a pointed at the sidewalk. "Kevin?"

"Huh?" he had been too busy watching Gwen and Ben talking about getting together for a studying session for physics with Julie. Not that he was eavesdropping or anything…

"Now, I'm only a girl with a photographic memory, but I'm sure there was a green and black car here about ten minutes ago, and there appears to be a void where it was."

---

**Good? Bad? Meh? ;) you all know the drill ;)**

**Next chapter may or may not be Paradox, I duno...throw me a bone, some one please! My brain cell is dieing! And should I bring Julie into this mix??? Again, I duno.... anyways, I'll be back with another update, work permitting, so stay tuned or whatever the appripriate word over the internet is xP**

**AH! One more thing; someone (you awesome person will know who you are! :P) said something about 'at last someone points out Gwen is not perfect! yey!' now then, we ALL know Kev's FAR from perfect, but besides drawing, I can't think of anymore for Gwen :S any ideas peoples???**

**xxx**


	18. Spillage

**AN: and do excuse the lame title, I have not enough brain cells going spare at the moment xD**

**I'm pressed for time, so please do enjoy! ;)**

_**Spillage**_

_Stupid study sessions._

That was all Kevin had to say for himself as they all spread their work across the grass and quizzed each other on various subjects. Damn them for going to school. Damn the government for making it compulsory. And damn Steph for playing games on her iphone while the rest of them slaved away.

Ben was going through some physics notes with Julie, and Gwen was working on an essay for English. Kevin pretended to do some equations, but ended up doodling all over the work sheet. Chancing a glance at the others, he pulled out his sketchbook and started doing some real work.

He smirked to himself when he noticed Ben was paying more attention to Julie than his physics book, and Steph was practising her guitar chords in midair, looking intently at her phone screen, frowning in concentration.

Gwen was twirling a lock of hair around her finger, reading her battered copy of the text her class was studying. She was lying on her front, propped up on her elbows, analysing the words on the page and writing down how each syllable showed the true moral of the story…or something like that. What was that, anyway? Jane Eyre, how intriguing. Kevin yawned widely.

She wasn't ignoring him on purpose, since she had homework and all to do, plus the fact she was listening to her ipod. Still, it annoyed him when she denied him attention, like she was doing now.

"Do you understand?" Julie asked.

"I don't get when you add or subtract two hundred." Ben whined.

"Okay, 0K is –273 degrees Celsius. So if you have the value in Kelvin, you have to take away two hundred and seventy three. With me?"

"Oh, I get it!"

"Here, try these ones," Julie gave him another sheet and they set to work with their calculator.

Steph was muttering to herself as she continued to play her invisible guitar in midair. "Stupid bar…" she grimaced. "Stupid Dylan for taking my book. Stupid River for demanding _her _book back…"

And Gwen was completely silent. At least, she wasn't talking to anyone. Kevin could hear her quiet breathing, the scratching noise of the pencil and pen against paper, and the rustle of pages being turned. Jane Eyre couldn't be that amazing…

"I feel like a smoothie." Steph jumped to her feet. "Wanna come with?"

"Meh," Kevin shrugged, rubbing out a chunk of his sketch.

Ben looked from Steph to Julie and back, lower lip wobbling with a look that said 'you're making me pick?'

"I'll let you chose whichever you want," Steph said in a singsong voice. "And I'll pay!"

Ben sprang to his feet, shedding physics papers left and right. "Two?"

Steph narrowed her eyes. "Deal/" she said flatly.

Ben spun round to face Julie. "What do you want?"

"Orders in general?" Steph asked the group at large.

"Don't care." Kevin said to his sketchbook.

Gwen kept on reading and writing her essay.

"Gwen?"

No response.

"Gwen!" Steph leant down and pulled the earphones out.

"Hmm?" she looked up with a dazed expression.

"Smoothie, my treat, flavour, now."

"Peach," she said vaguely, going back to her essay.

"I'll come with you," Julie said, setting her work aside.

Kevin couldn't believe it. Why was he always being left behind?

Ben struck a lame superhero pose and proclaimed, "To the Steph-mobile!" he ran off to her jeep.

"I would call it the Rust Bucket but that would be disrespectful to the original Rust Bucket. It's a buck of bolts."

"Hussein Bolt." Julie struck a pose.

Steph did likewise, then Ben decided to honk the horn. "Hurry up!"

"You break it and I'll break your neck!" Steph yelled at him, running to rescue her car, Julie trailing behind her.

"Why do I hang out with you guys?" Kevin asked the air around him.

Even though he wasn't asking Gwen, it still annoyed him that she didn't reply.

"Hey, Gwen!" he said without thinking.

"Mmm?" She took an earphone out and looked up. "What is it?"

"Err, nothing,"

She shrugged, and looked intently at her papers again.

_Doofus! At least think before you open your stupid mouth._

After some consideration, "Gwen?"

"Yeah?"

"What's so great about that book anyway?"

"It's a classic. And it's on the reading list. I have to write an essay on it and another book called _Wide Sargasso Sea_. They're both very interesting."

"Sure they are."

"Really," she insisted, then launched into an explanation of both texts and why they were so important and what they were trying to outline.

Kevin vaguely take note of what Gwen said, tapping his pencil against the book, taking in the occasional word or two, just listening to the sound of her voice.

---

Gwen was sure Kevin wasn't listening to a word she said. He had an almost dream like look on his face as he watched her. It was at once as flattering as it was annoying. It would be nice if he could take any of the things she said and apply it to his own schoolwork.

She couldn't resist winding him up. "Kevin?"

"Huh?" he gaped at her uncomprehendingly.

"Did you just hear a word I said?" she feigned ignorance.

"Err, yeah! Course I did,"

"What did I just say then?" she challenged.

"Err," he blinked.

"Since you were paying attention to what I was saying," she rubbed it in, trying not to giggle as he squirmed uncomfortably.

"Well," he said after a pause, then launched into a very piece-meal recall of what she had said, referring to Rochester as _that dude_, and saying something about burning houses.

Gwen tried so very hard, but she couldn't help it. When he said, "So that black woman plays the steel drums," she burst out laughing.

Kevin looked mortified. "You were messing with me the whole time, weren't you?"

"Yes!" she gasped.

He glared at her menacingly, closing his book shut with a snap.

"You're so easy to wind up," she said once she had her breathing under control.

Just on cue, the others returned, laughing at some unknown joke. Kevin threw his things into his rucksack and stood up. Gwen watched with a raised eyebrow; he glared at her before he stalked off in the direction of his car.

"Hey, Kevin!" Steph held out a smoothie cup from the cardboard tray in her hands. "Have a smoothie on me," Ben and Julie were already sipping their own drinks.

"Here," Kevin took the cup and dumped the contents over Steph's head before walking away at a leisurely pace to his car and getting in. He drove away, leaving a stunned silence behind him.

Steph was more than stunned; she said nothing, just stared after him in disbelief.

"Steph?" Ben asked uncertainly.

Gwen jumped to her feet and ran to meet them.

"He dumped smoothie on me." Steph said dumbly, like it had only just registered.

"Stay calm," Ben fretted, taking a napkin from his pocket and mopping up the sticky drink.

"I'm his mechanic buddy," Steph said, lip wobbling in a heartbreakingly pathetic way.

"Steph," Gwen felt awful for putting Kevin in a bad mood to the point where he would take it out on his beloved mechanic buddy.

Steph's eyes suddenly hardened, and her lips curled into a cruel smirk. "He'sa gonna _die_ for this."

"Steph," the cousins said flatly.

Julie lowered her smoothie cup, which she had been steadily drinking through a straw as they convened around their Avis friend. "Should we be worried?" he asked fairly.

"Terrified," Steph said darkly, sounding like a Sith Lord. "The Dark Side looks very tempting right now. You better run Levin," she rambled to herself, walking to her car, ignoring the others. "I'll find you." she took a deep breath and pulled out her phone, pressing a button and waiting for a response. "I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!" she yelled down the line before putting her phone away. "I have an errand to run. I'll pick you up in an hour!" she called over her shoulder.

"Great." Ben muttered. "Now both our chauffeur's have dumped us.

"I'm walking home," Gwen grumbled, no longer in the mood to dissect sentence structures. "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," Julie said uncertainly.

"See ya," Ben shrugged.

---

Kevin was in _so_ much trouble when he got home. Cari sighed to herself as she moved things around the kitchen. Since her son had been hanging out with his new group of friends, he had been doing so well. She had been so sure they had made a break through this time.

Apparently not.

It was a good thing she had come home first and not Cain. He would have had Kevin's hide for sure this time.

The front door opened, and Cari put on her serious face.

"It's not how it looks," were his first words.

"Kevin…" she sighed, and turned to face her son. He sure looked guilty enough. "I thought we were making progress with the _not getting into trouble_ business."

"And I am!" he defended himself, dumping his sketchbook on the counter. "Steph's being evil," he snarled.

Cari raised an eyebrow. She had met Steph a while ago, and she seemed nice enough; a little out spoken, managing to upset Cain in about less than ten syllables, but still the sort of friend Kevin needed. She seriously doubted Steph would have done something like that.

Kevin got himself a drink and prepared to bolt for the door.

"Kevin Ethan Levin," she said menacingly.

He stopped dead in his track, back ramrod straight.

"Care to explain why out house has been covered in toilet paper and Cain's car is covered in whipped cream?" she asked quietly.

"Look," Kevin rounded on her angrily. "I was pissed off with Steph, so I threw a smoothie over her, and she swore revenge, and then _I_ get blamed for what she did! It's not like I'd do that to my own house," he looked insulted by the very thought. "And," he continued, really getting worked up, "if you look closely at what she wrote on the windshield, the 'i' in Kevin has a circle instead of a dot, which I don't write that way! So," he seemed unable to continue, and stormed out of the room.

Cari frowned, not remembering the writing. She went outside to check Cain's car. Sure enough, there was 'Kevin woz ere!' followed by yesterday's date. Now she thought about it, it wasn't his writing style. Still, was it so wrong she had jumped to conclusions? He could be so unpredictable…like why he had thrown a smoothie over his friend in the first place. Cari thought he _liked_ Steph.

She was going to get to the bottom of this. Back inside the house, Cari went to the basement and pushed her son's door open.

He was sitting at his desk, watching something on Youtube.

"Kevin, darling, we need to talk."

He ignored her.

She sighed, and pulled the plug on the computer.

"I was watching that!" he snapped, glaring at her.

"We are sorting this out right here, right now." She said firmly.

He stalked to his bed and threw himself onto it, glaring at the ceiling instead. "Go away,"

"Kevin," she sat down beside him, and he rolled over so his back was facing her. "What's wrong? You don't normally get this angry."

He said nothing.

"Why did you threw smoothie at Steph? I thought you liked her."

"Mom, she's just a friend. A very _annoying_ friend." He growled.

"But what did she do to annoy you?"

"Nothing." He admitted.

"Then what's put you in such a fowl temper?" she put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. She would never forgive herself if he slid back into the criminal he had been; she was doing everything she could to help him settle back into their family life. She didn't want him to derail again, and she was worried that even the slightest thing might tip him over. Okay, maybe she was over reacting; he was a teenager, after all, and argumentative, just like his father.

It took a while for Kevin to find the words, but when he did, he mumbled, "It was Gwen,"

"Who?" Then she remembered. "Oh. Ben's sister?"

"Cousin." He corrected automatically.

Oh! So it was a _girl_ problem was it?

"And what did she do to make you so angry?"

"Wind me up. _On purpose_." She knew by his tone that he was scowling. "She so totally knew she was doing it, too."

"So," Cari inspected her nails. "This Gwen of yours,"

He sighed heavily, and sat up straight. "She's not mine."

Was that regret in his tone? Or wishful thinking on Cari's part?

"Anyway," he hugged his pillow – very non-Kevin like behaviour. "Not like it matters."

"Well, if you're that upset about it,"

Her comment was met with a stony silence. She put her arms around his shoulders awkwardly, not having held him this way since he had been about five years old.

"You know you can come and talk to me about anything, don't you?"

Kevin made a non-committal noise at the back of his throat.

"Now then, we can talk about this now, or we can go clean this mess up before Cain comes back and talk about it later."

Kevin scowled again and pulled away. "It's not my mess, I'm not cleaning it up."

"Okay, fine. Then since it was _your_ friend that created this mess, you won't mind telling Cain _why_ the house is covered in toilet paper and his car in whipped cream."

Reverse psychology _always_ worked on his father. Kevin stared at her wide-eyed before jumping to his feet and running to the door. "What are you waiting for?" he demanded, running to the stairs.

Cari smiled to herself, shaking her head with a sigh. She followed him outside where he was already working at the speed of light to clear up to mess.

"And," he went on as though they had not stopped their earlier conversation, "When you send me to the stores, I always buy the good stuff. _This_, he showed her a sample of the paper, "is the cheap crap you get in schools and public rest rooms. Didn't you raise me better than that?" he grinned at her.

Thankfully, the worst of his tantrum was over. She smiled at him. "I'll put the kettle on," she said, going back inside.

The phone rang, and she answered it. "Hello?"

"_Hello, this is Gerald Tanner. I'm Stephanie's stepfather,_"

"Oh, hello,"

"_I'm calling to apologise about the prank she pulled today. She claims she had a legitimate excuse, but I've sent her and her mother over to apologise._" He had a very business like tone as he spoke.

"Oh, it's fine," Cari laughed. "I was just a childish prank. I'm sure she had good reason, knowing Kevin."

Gerald laughed as well. "_Be that as it may, my son informed me that she targeted your husbands car. I would have been willing to turn a blind eye had it been Kevin's own car, but I have to draw the line somewhere I'm afraid. Steph has a habit of getting carried away when she's seeking revenge against her peers._"

"It's no trouble at all, really." The doorbell rang. "I have someone at the door,"

"_I will call again later_," he promised.

At the door was Steph looking very sheepish, and a petite woman who Cari assumed was her mother.

"Sorry to intrude like this," she said apologetically.

"It's fine, no problem at all." Cari assured her.

"Busted!" Kevin crowed from outside, and Steph's jaw set in an angry line.

"Kevin!" Cari scolded. He laughed loudly, rubbing it in. "Don't make me come out there," she warned.

That shut him up.

"Stephenie has something to say," the woman said, looking at her daughter pointedly.

"I'm very sorry that I TPed your house, and targeted Cain's car." Steph recited. "And I would like to help clean up to make it up to you."

"Well, Kevin's outside, if you want to lend a hand," Cari nodded at the door.

A grin split across Steph's face. She sprang to a salute, saying, "Yessir!" and cannonballed out of the house.

Cari could not shake the thought that she had met this woman before somewhere. "Would you like a drink?" she offered.

"Yes please," she said politely, and followed her into the kitchen.

There was something very familiar about her, but Cari just couldn't place it. As she set the kettle to boil and went to find their old disused teapot, it was apparent she felt the same.

"I'm sorry, but I get the feeling I've met you somewhere before," she admitted.

"Yes," Cari frowned, trying to remember. "So do I. I can't think where though…" She found the teapot and went on a hunt for the teabags. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name,"

"Michelle,"

Cari stopped dead in her tracks.

"Smith?"

"Yes," her expression was hard to read. "Smith-Tanner, now."

"You're not…" oh, what was his name!? "Ian's wife?"

"Yes, he was stationed in DC for a year before we moved back to England. He was reported missing in action on a mission,"

"I met you at that ball they threw. Remember Devin Levin?"

Michelle's eyes lit up. "I _thought_ Kevin looked familiar! Oh, why didn't I see it before?" she clapped her hand to her forehead.

Cari laughed. Now it all came flooding back; she remembered the Avis man who had been Devin's _mission buddy_. No wonder Steph and Kevin got on so well. Suddenly, it made sense why they were playing tricks on each other like this.

"I can't believe I didn't see it before," Michelle repeated, looking out through the hall to the open door where the two teens were probably wreaking more havoc. "He's the spitting image of his father,"

"He is," Cari smiled fondly. The smile evaporated as Kevin ran into the kitchen and grabbed the nearest objects he could; a fork and a wooden spoon.

"Stay back!" he shouted at the door.

Steph stormed in, soaking wet, out for blood. "You bastard!" she lunged for him.

"Be gone, foul demon!" he tried to wrestle her out the door, but ended up getting trapped in the corner, trying to defend himself with his weapons.

"I'll show you demon," she snarled.

"What did you do?" Cari demanded.

They both proclaimed at the tops of their lungs it was the other's fault. As she watched, Kevin absorbed enough of the metal to give Steph a dig in the ribs and leg it while she recovered enough the yell after him, "Yeah! You _better run_!" she took the fork and stampeded after him. "An eternity of Hell and the Null Void will be nothing compared to five minutes with me and this fork,"

"I see a pattern immerging." Michelle commented.

The two women looked each other in the eye, and doubled over laughing. It brought back so many happy memories, and the smile back to her face as she made the tea.

It would be a long time before those two got their act together enough to clean up before Cain got home.

---

And this was supposed to be short but I got carried away :S

**As ever, your input is greatly appreciated! ;)**

**xxx**


	19. Smoothie Break

AN: ello :) lol I got a BIT too carried away last chapter from my original plan, but Steph had to be Steph and cause havoc ;)

**Also, I think I have caused some confusion among my readers :S this was not my intention. Firstly, mehhh Cari seemed like a good idea at the time xD also, sorry if I spoil anything for anyone who has not seen season 3, but anyone who has, remember the episode they all go camping and grandpa max is like 'wheeeeee and then there was a bomb!' and Kevin says something about a story about his dad, Max does say 'Devin Levin' doesn't he??? It sounded vaguely like Devlin but I found out it's Devin, so I sort of cribbed that off the show….sorry if I've ruined anything! :S also, yeah, hugging pillows is lame, but its common for people Kevin's age who have had a traumatic past, I was just trying to be clever and apply my psychology lessons to something vaguely useful, since I am convinced that he either isn't a sociopath or if he was, it was to a very slight degree (I have now learned there are varying degrees to which you can be a sociopath. Woot.) And Julie? MEH. She just sort of sits there and does…stuff. Don't love her or hate her to be honest, I sort of forgot she was in my story until I remembered after Kevin had his moment. Also, the day Steph falls in love with someone will be the day the sky falls down xD I was going for the sort of 'like father like son/daughter' thing where they dads were best friends and so their kids are too. And, **ledah13 **to be honest I didn't notice until you pointed it out and then I realised I had a 'profanity filter' on and I was like 'oh THAT'S what it does!' xD lol no harm done ;)**

**Enough! I ramble too much for anyone's good! **

Smoothie Break

In about a day Kevin and Steph were back to normal after the whole smoothie-toilet paper thing. It was aggravating how they went from one moment trying to gut each other like fish, to the next moment getting along very well with each other thank you very much. Ben really wanted to slap Steph for being so annoying, but he didn't have the heart too.

It was an unseasonably warm day, so they were all dressed accordingly. Having known her for many long years, Ben should have been used to her supernaturally skinny limbs. It was still unnerving to sit next to someone who was much taller and thinner than you.

Steph was leaning against the hood of Kevin's car, sipping a smoothie, and watching the one thin, pathetic wisp of a cloud float over the horizon, in her khaki shorts and a plain tank top with an oil stain from yesterdays spat over who owned which tool kit in the corner.

Gwen was, surprise surprise, reading a book and ignorant of her surroundings.

Kevin was drawing in a book, listening to his ipod, which was belting out some metal music so loud Ben could hear it from the other side of the car. That could _not_ be good for his eardrums…wait a sec, Kevin was _drawing_?

Ben tried inconspicuously to look over his shoulder and see what Kevin doing. Steph chose that precise moment to lie down on her back and stare at the clear blue sky above, yawning widely. "I'm _bored_…"

This gave Ben a better vantage point, so he leaned across her to see what Kevin was up to.

"Um, excuse me?" Steph said sharply.

"What?" Gah! He'd been caught!

Steph put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him away. "You are___blocking_ my _sun_. Go cast your unwanted shadow somewhere else."

Ben waited for Steph to close her eyes and start dosing again before he attempted to put _operation: snoop over shoulder_ into action. He received a punch in the gut for it.

"What part of sod off do you not understand?"

"Ouch!" Ben protested. "That hurt, Steph!"

"That's the point! I'm conditioning you so that every time you do something I don't like, you get hurt, and therefore learn not to do it. I think your brain works the wrong way, you should have got it through that thick skull of yours," she poked him – quite hard, mind you – between the eyes. "Unless you enjoy the sensation of pain, in which case I'm more than happy to assist you,"

The two of them bickered on for a few more minutes in this fashion, ignored by the other two. Ben thought it was weird how they could get lost in their own little worlds like that, when there was so much around them to take in! Then again, he and Steph were in their own little argumentative bubble, so he could hardly talk.

"What is that, anyway?" Steph asked, leaning over to look over Kevin's shoulder.

He let her look, but shifted around when Ben tried to do the same. What was so extraordinary about Steph that meant she was allowed to see the paper and not him? He voiced this notion, and his answer was for Steph to get right in his face, smile sweetly and say, "Cause I'm special."

Ben muttered to himself. "None of you like me."

"Nope." Kevin said flatly as Steph spoke in a cheerful tone.

And Gwen sat there like the whole world depended on her reading that damn book.

They were all boring people, so boring in fact, that Ben decided to just go home. If he studied hard enough he might actually pass the next physics test in one week and three days time.

Maybe.

Maybe…

---

Maybe Gwen should stop reading so much. It took her about two and a half hours to notice Ben had gone, by which time Steph had got everyone two refills, and started playing music from her phone at annoyingly loud volumes to annoy Kevin. That was when she looked up in mild displeasure, then noticed they were one moron short.

"Where's Ben?"

"On the moon," Steph said with sincerity.

Kevin planted his fist in her stomach.

"Ouch! What the hell?" she snarled.

"Evil," he began, but she cut him off.

"_You're_ the evil one! What the hell did I do? Seriously, you just punched me for no reason!" she stood up so quickly that the smoothies nearly ended up on the ground, but Gwen caught them just in time. "I'm going now, before you gouge my eyes out with a straw or something equally mean and nasty!" She stalked across the parking lot to the small collection of trees on the other side of the road. A large gold and red bird flew up into the sky and left them behind.

"Bitch," Kevin muttered to himself.

Gwen threw her book at him.

"Hey!" he dropped his sketchbook. "What?"

"You're so mean to her! She never did anything,"

"She so did!" he argued back. "She's always getting on my nerves,"

"Because she's Steph! You should have learned that by now!" she picked up her book again and started beating him over the head with it. Really, she liked how he didn't fight back like she knew he would have if Steph or Ben were hitting him. She was _such_ a bitch.

"Hey!" Kevin retreated across the hood of the car, and Gwen leant over to keep him within range. "Stop it, Gwen! Seriously,"

She laughed, and he rolled away from her, dropping down to crouch by the tyre and put his hands over his head. She tried to follow him, but over stretched and lost her balance. Landing on the ground in front of the car, Gwen noticed the sketchbook lying open at a particular page; on closer inspection it turned out to be a photo of a dark haired man holding a baby.

Kevin peeked around the corner as she picked up the book and photo, taking it in. He looked suddenly nervous, like he was afraid of her reaction.

With deliberate slowness, Gwen stood up and settled back onto her previous perch, studying the sketch and its corresponding photo.

It was like looking at an older version of Kevin, with stubble, and wearing a black and green chequered button down open over a plain white-shirt. And the little baby in his arms had a mop of black hair, and a huge smile on his face.

Kevin sat down beside her, hovering nervously by her elbow.

"Is this you?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged, not meeting her gaze. "Yeah."

"And your dad?"

"Yeah."

Gwen carefully slid the photo in between the pages of the sketchbook and handed it back to him wordlessly.

"Thanks," he murmured, taking her book she had been hitting him with and passing it back to her.

She smiled sheepishly at him. "Sorry about that,"

Kevin mumbled something in audible, before straightening up and saying, "I have to go home,"

"Okay," Gwen gathered her things up and slid into the passenger seat.

It was funny how things always happened on these smoothie breaks; Gwen mulled it all over in her mind as Kevin drove her back to her house before her father sent the police after them. She was in a bit of a daze as she said goodbye and ambled up the pathway to the front door. Unluckily, her dad was in, and demanded to know where she had been all this time without telling her parents. It didn't help that she looked bemused for no readily apparent reason other than she had been with Kevin.

After a full twenty minutes of thorough questioning, she stalked upstairs scowling. Switching on the computer with an irritated flick, Gwen reflected that it was probably good that right now neither of them had made an advance; Kevin would live all of about ten seconds to regret it he they had.

---

**Argh! It's so short, I know, and I feel bad, but I wanted to do something while I sit on another idea for a bit. That, and I did ALL my psychology homework, PLUS revise for a practically assessed science experiment on diffusion, and managed to get about 1500 words down. I duno about you, but I'm shocked beyond words. Which is good cause I'm typing this anyway ;)**

**Anyways, my idea was that after the time when Darkstar Rising happens (which I may or may not write depending on your opinion and my mood at the time) I wanted to introduce a certain someone for Steph and Mel's past ;) I have a rough idea of what gona happen, but I'm concerned about the pace my plots moving at and I think it could go a bit faster than a snail with a limp like it is right now… And I'm also thinking of doing another story for season 3 when I finish this and get round to it and watch the episodes xD if I can be bothered wake up from my psycho induced sleep.**

**So! I duno why I repeat myself every time, you know what to do :P**

**xxx**


	20. Darkstar Rising

**AN: I get the general consensus that the last chapter was crap in how it was written but the idea of it was okayish. I thought it was quite rubbish myself, its nice to know it's not just me thinking that xD I had diffusion on the brain at the time. Not quite sure what went wrong there other than it was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad… I think I was writing for writings sake :S I will rectify this problem! ;) I take no offence to your criticisms, what you're all saying is oh so true :P and I thank you for your honesty ;)**

**So, while I get my act into order (alphabetic or numerical; to ABC or not to ABC. Now _that's_ the question :P) here's another cribbed episode where I can't go wrong! ;) and please ignore the fact that I can't quite remember all the words they say…..this is AU so nerr! :P**

**_Darkstar Rising_**

Kevin was considering sleeping in his car again tonight, not wanting to go home. Steph, and even Ben, had dropped by to check on him, but he hadn't been in the mood to talk. If those two swung by, Gwen could at least have texted him or something…

He wasn't sure what was worse; the fact he had lost his badge, and therefore the only link he had to the Plumbers, or that Gwen hadn't come to see him.

When he heard footsteps outside, he was sure Steph had come back.

"I'm busy." He muttered.

"It's me," said a quiet voice.

He rolled himself out from under the car to see Gwen standing there, holding a drink container. Now that Gwen was here, checking up on him, just like he had wanted her to, he was at a loss for what to say.

"I brought you a drink," she said, holding forth the cup.

Great. More wheat grass sludge and ginger.

"Thanks, but I'm not thirsty," he tried to bury himself under the car along with his confidence.

"It's not a smoothie." Gwen stated.

Kevin remained motionless.

Gwen took an exaggerated sip and shook it. "See? Regular soda."

He wheeled himself out again. "Yeah, okay," he took it graciously and took a long draft. It was diet. Didn't she know diet soda gave you cancer? A smart preppy girl like her should know that.

"I came to see how you were doing." Was she hiding something behind her back?

"Thanks." He mulled his next words over for about two seconds before saying, "Listen," much as I appreciate and love the fact you came all this way, but, "I don't want to talk about my dad,"

"Never crossed my mind,"

Yeah, sure it didn't. Gwen flicked a lock of her back and tucked it behind her ear, something she did whenever she lied to Ben or Steph's face. It was surprising he had even picked up on that, and consciously noticed that he had done so.

"Here, I brought you something," she took a small pouch from behind her back and produced a small ball from inside. She threw it to him, and he caught it in midair.

"What is it?"

"Absorb it."

He complied automatically, letting the ball's substance coat over his skin.

"It's a ball bearing. It's made out of…I don't know, ball bearing stuff." She twirled her hand vaguely in the air, something she had learned from Steph.

A quick glance confirmed his suspicions. "Stainless steel."

Gwen knelt down in front of him, holding the pouch out towards him. "I got a whole bag for you. So when you go out and get into a fight, you can change to whatever you want."

Wow. That was a really nice thought, with one minorly large draw back.

"Thanks, but it doesn't really work that way." He set the soda aside. "I need a _lot_ of whatever I'm copying." If he absorbed them all at once, there _might _be enough to cover his entire body…if it was a _very _thin layer.

"Oh," her face fell, and Kevin didn't know what to say.

"Anyway," he went on, inspecting a wooden ball before dropping it into the bag. "What makes you think I'm still working with you guys?" he looked up, and found her closer than he had expected. Gwen took his metallic hand in both of hers, and he felt the metal recede without even thinking about it.

Her hands were so much smaller than his, like how she was so much smaller than the rest of the team, and so distinctly fragile. And warm… And fragrant. There was that tantalisingly familiar smell again; all his favourite fruit blended into one delicate scent.

"Because you've changed." She said, so simply and easily.

Kevin wished it were true.

"Maybe, but I'm still on parole." He looked away for a moment, unable to look her in the eye. So what if she thought he was different? She was looking at him through rose tinted glass, seeing what she wanted to see, perceiving a person who was worth her time when he blatantly wasn't. He suppressed a sigh, before pointing out; "That Magister can put me back in the Null Void any time he wants."

He chanced a quick glance at her face, and forgot to look away.

Looking into a girl's eyes always seemed like the mushy sort of thing that Kevin swore he would never do. But, with Gwen…it felt like being trapped, but in a good way. That deep, emerald green kept him from wavering away, from letting his focus slip.

How long had they been sat there like that? A minute? An hour?

Maybe this is the feeling they talk about in books, when you know it's cheesy, and corny, and stupid, and cheesy, and you can't quite find it in you to care.

It scared the living daylights out of him internally when Gwen slowly started to lean forward. The scariest thing was that his body moved automatically too, inclining towards her.

Wait!

Was this it? Was he, Kevin Ethan Levin, going to actually kiss a girl? On the floor of a crappy workshop on the wrong side of town?

His mind went into overdrive, and then shock as neither of them backed down. Some small part of his mind was crowing in triumph, while another wanted to slap him for daring to believe someone would feel for him like that. A third, smaller part thought vaguely that Gwen might want a more romantic set up.

His heart was beating way too fast, in an altogether not entirely unhealthy way. It felt almost like an adrenaline rush, like when they bowled headfirst into a fight, but it was exciting in a different way…

Just as Gwen's eyes began to flutter shut, and Kevin's lips parted, something smashed through the wall of the workshop.

His heart missed a beat before starting again at an even faster rate. A Highbreed was standing in the gaping hole in the wall. They both jumped to their feet at the speed of light, standing apart.

"Human scum!" it screeched. "I will cleanse the world of your filth!"

Under normal circumstances, Kevin would have made a witty comment, but Steph and Ben weren't here, and he was worried that without the extra support Gwen would get hurt. Gwen…

If that thing put so much as a _finger_ on her and Kevin would tear its throat out. "Looks like I picked the wrong day to give up fighting monsters," he growled menacingly, absorbing the metal from his car.

"It's a Highbreed," Gwen said urgently.

_Way to state the obvious_, though he kept that thought to himself.

"Ben says they're too strong for us to fight,"

"Well, Ben ain't here," he barrelled forth to prove his point, covering himself with cement from the floor. He ended up pile-drived into the front of his car instead of proving his point.

Maybe there was a lesson to be learnt here; Gwen is always right, even when you know she isn't.

That made no sense, even in his mind. That blow must have messed with his head…

Everything went black for a moment, then…

"That won't save you, human!"

Something, maybe even that elusive sixth sense Mel went on about, propelled him from the hood of his car. He knew that if he didn't, Gwen could get killed. The Highbreed's fist slammed into him, right between his shoulder blades, along the fault line where the cement layer went together. Kevin had a fleeting glance of Gwen's horrified expression, before he collapsed onto the floor beside her, blacking out again. The last thing he remembered was a pair of soft, warm hands against his cheeks.

That was going to leave a mark, and it would be killing him in the morning, but Gwen wasn't implanted into floor by a Highbreed's fist, so it was worth it.

---

All's well that ends well, as Mel would happily quote.

Ben was still in awe that Gwen had convinced the DNAlien's to help. She smiled to herself as he and Steph played Rock, Paper, Scissors, then wrestled each other into the water.

After such a manic day, they had decided to take a break and go down to the lake again. Besides those two fighting, it was quite peaceful; birds sang, fish blew bubbles, the trees creaked in a slight wind…Ben made a huge splash when Steph tripped him up and pushed him in.

Kevin surprised her by bringing a book to read, and seemed to be thoroughly absorbed by it. Now Gwen could understand why he got frustrated with her when she read; she wanted to talk to him, hang out, do something, _anything_ after their 'almost' kiss last night.

Or maybe he was avoiding her on purpose; he had declined the offer to go for a swim, and Ben had been more than happy to start a fight instead with their Avis friend. Normally, he would love an excuse to beat Steph round the head with a conveniently placed object that happened to be large and heavy. Like a nice big mallet.

He was acting out of character, but he seemed rather tranquil, chilled out, more relaxed than Gwen had ever seen him.

His retrieved Plumber's badge was nestled inside his rucksack, just visible atop his black beach towel. Her own badge, along with Steph's, was sitting in her handbag underneath the trees in the shade alongside Kevin's car. They hadn't been as thrilled as Kevin to be issued with a badge.

"Hey," Ben yelled from the lake edge, fending off Steph. "Chuck us a coke!"

Kevin looked up from the book, bemused. He leant back to grab a can, stretching his shoulders and arms to reach the cool box. Gwen heard her own sharp intake of breath, but was sure no one else did, judging by the lack of reaction. There was a large, nasty looking bruise developing right between his shoulder blades. It was visible for only a moment, as he turned round again and threw the can in his hand to Ben. It fell short by ten feet to the left, and he visibly winced from the effort.

"Well that was shite." Steph said into the silence.

Kevin shrugged, and picked up his book.

Steph edged forward, trying to go undetected, until Ben grabbed the back of her bright cherry red bikini top and pulled it back before letting it go.

"OUCH!" she jumped about a foot in the air.

"My soda!" Ben ran to it.

"I call shot gun!" Steph pushed him out of the way.

They proceeded to fight over the can, trying to take it from each other, and shaking it around so much Gwen was sure it would explode.

She got up and crawled over to Kevin and sat down beside him. He was gazing intently at the page before him, so it was clear he wasn't ignoring her on purpose; he had that thinking face on. Carefully, she placed a hand over to purpling bruise, trying to heal it.

Kevin jumped, and spun round. "What?" he said, blinking at her.

"That's a nasty bruise you have,"

"Huh?" he feigned ignorance, but didn't meet her eye; classic 'I'm avoiding the truth' tactic. "What, this? I've had worse. I'll be fine."

Disregarding his words, Gwen put her hand against the angry discoloured skin, and closed her eyes, murmuring a few words under her breath. She felt the drain on her energy, but when she opened her eyes again and saw the bruise was gone, she smiled to herself with satisfaction. "There you go,"

"Thanks…" he mumbled to himself, going bright red.

Steph and Ben did a sort of backwards tango past them, still fighting for the soda can. Kevin got over his embarrassment quickly, laughing at them both while Gwen hung her head in despair. Maybe she should make friends with people slightly less wrong in the head…

"I'll give it ten minutes before someone gets badly hurt." She said.

"I say six and a half." Kevin hedged.

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "You reckon? Maybe we should point out that they could just get another one from the cool box…"

"Nah, that would be _far_ to sensible, Gwen!" he grinned at her, and her heart melted into putty. "That's using their brains, can't have that!"

Ben kicked Steph in the shins and raced away with the can to the other side of the lake. Steph seemed to have given up, and curled into a ball on her side, groaning loudly. "He killed me…I hope you're happy, you bitch…" then she trailed away to dark mutterings.

"This I've got to see," Kevin jumped to his feet and ran over to Ben, who was rapping his knuckles smartly on the top of the can.

Gwen picked up the book; curious as to what would have _Kevin_ so deeply engrossed that he would be oblivious to his surroundings. It was a plain, black, leather bound book with no markings on the cover. She flipped it open to the first page, where, in familiar handwriting, someone had written, '_Devin Levin's Journal_'

A shock ran through Gwen, starting from her scalp and ending at her toes. She put the book down and scooted away from it. That was Kevin's father's diary, she shouldn't be looking at it; it wasn't hers to read, or stick her nose in.

Still, she couldn't help but notice that their handwriting was almost exactly the same.

A loud bang came from the spot where Ben had been, and she jumped to her feet, ready for a fight.

She was confused when Ben fell to the floor, dropping the can that had sprayed coke everywhere, and Kevin swooped down and helped him sit up. Steph was suddenly there, hovering over his shoulder, face drained of colour. Gwen was there too, in a flash.

She nearly screamed, and fought the urge to slap him for being such an idiot.

The can had exploded in his hand, and a jagged piece of metal had flown from it and caught him in the face; it was still embedded in his nose. Long gashes across his face were weeping crimson blood, and the look in his eyes was thoroughly dazed.

"Shit, Ben!" Steph said frantically. "I'm so sorry!" she knelt down and pushed his hair from his eyes. "Kevin, you've got a first aid kit in the car, right?"

"I'll go get it," he ran to his car and was back again in record time.

"Okay," Steph opened the box, and took out the items she needed. "Ben, this will only hurt more if you move…"

"Since when have you been a nurse?" Kevin demanded.

"Since I did a course to be a lifeguard at the local swimming centre in England where I earned money." She snapped. "Now be quiet,"

"What happened?" Ben asked, dazed.

Gwen couldn't remember the last time she had seen so much blood in one go. "Ben?" she asked worriedly. Was it just her imagination, or did all the boys who were important in her life just keep getting themselves hurt? Grandpa Max got himself blow up, Ken got himself caught up in the DNAlien business, Kevin got pound by a Highbreed, and Ben had a can explode in his face. Ken, Grandpa and Ben were all family, and Kevin she was crushing on. Would the list ever end?

"Stay _very_ still," Steph cautioned.

Carefully, she took an antiseptic wipe, and dabbed at the wounds on Ben's cheek, cleaning them of germs.

They all winced as he yelled out loud.

"IT STINGS!"

"Kevin, pin him down, will you?" Steph snarled. "Ben! Listen to me! If I can't treat this now then we'll have to take you to the hospital and they'll stick needles in you. Ya got that!?"

Ben whimpered pitifully as Kevin grabbed his arms and locked them behind his back. "I _hate_ needles…"

Gwen rolled her eyes, before grabbing him by the neck and forcing his face upwards. "You're such a baby,"

"Here we go," Steph treated his other cheek, and the forehead in turn. When it came to his nose, Ben very nearly broke free. He earned a punch in the gut from Steph, then went quiet until she had covered him in plasters. "There. And if you take any of those off after all the work I put in to save your face, I will cheerfully beat you to death with this," she held up the remains of the coke can.

Ben sniffled weakly, then got to his feet. Steph surprised him by pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. "And don't you _dare_ scare me like that again!" she hissed in his ear. "I'm sorry I shook the can up, but you had to be the idiot who opened it."

The rest of the day passed without consequence. After Ben had come out of shock, and Steph smeared some 'water proofing serum' over the plasters, they all dived bombed the lake for a few hours.

It wasn't until late afternoon when they were packing up to go home that Gwen remember the journal. She grabbed Kevin's bag and took it back to the car, and found him searching through everything that had been put in the boot. Steph was checking Ben's plasters one last time before spreading towels on the back seat so they didn't drip water everywhere.

Gwen went back to the picnic spot, and found the leather bound book hiding in the grass. She went back to the car, and tapped Kevin's shoulder.

"Were you looking for this?" she asked quietly.

He looked from her, to the book, and back again before he took it from her. "Thanks," he murmured. The book was carefully tucked away in the rucksack before the boot was slammed shut. They all piled into the car, and drove home.

"Can we stop for a smoothie?" Ben asked out loud. "Since I was brave and didn't end up in the hospital?"

"I'll give you one thing, you didn't cry like a baby," Steph said dully, staring out the window.

"Yeah, just screamed like a banshee." Kevin chipped in, sniggering.

"Oho! I see what you did there!" Steph laughed. "Using onomatoepias! Clever you!" she clapped loudly and forcibly. "If we have smoothies, can we also have fish and chips?"

"All in favour?" Ben asked.

"Aye!" everyone in the car shouted.

"Then it's settled!" Steph crowed. "Get fish fat into those wounds and I'll gut you like one yourself, you got that?" she threatened Ben.

And so, did the next fight of the day break out. Gwen pulled out her music player and turned the music right up, smiling to herself.

_All's well that ends well._

---

**I think that was much better than the last chapter xD oki doki, a question I was asked; had I not known what Kevin's dad's name was, what would I have called him??? Oooh that's a hard one to answer… hmm I'd be tempted to say Ethan if I'm honest xD and yes, Steph's a girl cause she has no Y chromosome ;)**

**I'm thinking the next chapter will be Steph-centric with a blast from her past ;) I'll work on that one and try to make it nice and long for you, until then, have fun in whatever it is you happen to do (school, work, Blargh in general :D)!**

**xxx**

**NOTE: I tried uploading this Saturday evening (English time) and it wouldn't let me upload anything, so sorry for any delay this causes!**


	21. Meeting Ian

**AN: argh I should be revising for the test tomorrow! :S but I got so carried away with the pixies I just couldn't stop! By the way, thanks for the feed back ;) High Fives and hugs all round, you awesome people! Also, thank you for pointing out my error; yes, I had a reason for Kevin having the journal, but Ben had to have the can explode in his face and I forgot to mention it, so I mentioned it here. Also, I have not seen a can explode in such a manner, but I've heard its possible under the right circumstances, and my brother claims this girl ripped a can of beer out of his hand and it left a nice big scar along his hand where the metal sheared apart :S twas not pleasant...**

**Anyways, TAH DAH! ;D**

**_Meeting Ian_**

Steph was getting daily death threats from someone. Kevin looked over her shoulder as she typed up their latest mission, grumbling loudly to herself over the recently opened email.

They had packed up here for the night since they had been out fighting aliens all bloody day long (from about seven in the morning until five in the afternoon), and it was too late to drop in on their families, covered in DNAlien goo as they were. Mel was lighting some incense sticks around the room for them; lavender, to calm the mind and something else mystical and therefore irrelevant. They were just going to get washed, eat, and crash until tomorrow, when they would work out a strategy.

"Why are you getting death threats?" Surely Steph didn't know anyone in the criminal underworld that would want skin for tanning…

"Argh!" She snapped, making him jump. Normally, she didn't growl quite so loudly. "River's on my case because she wants her sodding music book back. I sent it in the mail!" she said to the screen, as though it were at fault. "And the postal service is just being annoying…"

"Excuses," Kevin smirked. He winced as Steph's fist cam into contact with his stomach.

She told him to do something unsanitary to his mother, so he sauntered over to the sofa and sank back into the cushions. Ben dragged himself off the stairwell, over to the couch, and fell down next to him dramatically. "I think I'm dieing…" he moaned.

Gwen came out of the shower room, dressed in plain pyjamas, hair still soaking wet and unbrushed, and staggered over to the sofa.

Kevin flipped Ben off so he landed on the beanbags below, and Gwen dropped down beside him.

"Son of a...!" Ben muttered.

"It's done," Steph said irritably, pulling the plug on her computer and stalking off to have a shower.

Gwen sighed in exasperation and said to Steph. "Can you pass me my hairbrush? I left it in the bathroom."

"Catch," Steph threw the object with unerring speed, and the rest of them were so tired that they couldn't move fast enough. It hit Ben in the back of the head, just as he was pulling himself upright; he fell over sideways and laid perfectly still.

A few seconds later, he murmured, "Ouch."

"Delayed reaction, much?" Kevin muttered to himself.

Gwen took up her hairbrush and started detangling her coppery hair. After only three of four strokes she gave up and curled into a ball at Kevin's side. "Wake me up in the morning," she mumbled sleepily.

Kevin tried to inch away so as not to disturb her, but gave up. He nudged Ben with his foot, hoping for some conversation, but a loud snore was the only reply he got. He was vaguely aware of Steph marching into the room with soaking hair and collapsing onto a beanbag, saying something like, "Eff this," and that's the last he remembered of that day.

---

Gerald climbed up the stairs to the attic to check on Steph and her friends. He knew a lot more than Michelle did about what they got up to, since he was slightly less protective when it came to Steph's limits. Still, they had all looked exhausted when they traipsed in earlier. And it wasn't like Ben to pass up on a free meal…

In the attic, Mel was sat cross-legged on her bed, reading a book. Over in the communal area the sisters shared, the four teens had crashed and burned; all of them were fast asleep.

"They've had a long day," Mel said quietly.

"I noticed," Gerald replied. "More for us then," he smiled at her.

Mel tucked a bookmark in-between the pages, and followed him downstairs. He stopped her at the landing below, and said, "There's something bothering me,"

"I noticed," she mirrored his earlier sentence, smiling sweetly at him.

Gerald laughed before he became serious again. "Your mother mentioned your father the other day."

Mel's eyebrows rose.

Michelle never liked talking about Ian; it still pained her to think about him. What was strange was that she had volunteered the information herself over dinner this Thursday, without any hints that Gerald could see.

"That's odd." Mel said thoughtfully. "I remember her saying when she and Steph came back from Kevin's house that Dad knew Devin Levin.

"Kevin's father?" That was interesting.

"I think so. As far as I know, he doesn't mention his father much. Steph knows very little, except it's the same story as us. Missing in action, haven't heard since."

"Poor boy,"

Mel gave a dainty little shrug. "He has Steph and the other's for company, I'm sure he'll make do."

Gerald sighed heavily. "I feel so sorry for that lad,"

"Supper's ready!" Michelle called from downstairs.

"Go on," he pushed her to the top of the stairs. "I'll get the boys,"

---

It was quite comfortable where Gwen was lying, even though she had been curled up for several hours without moving a muscle. She dozed on for a bit, before her pillow shifted. She didn't react straight away, because her pillow didn't normally move around first thing in the morning, so she reached out blindly to pull it back.

It moved right away from her, so she fell forward, and felt the slightly rough fabric of a blanket against her cheek.

Opening her eyes and blinking in the light, she saw – not her bed room, but Steph and Mel's attic, with Steph and Ben lying on the floor amid a sea of beanbags and cushions, still asleep, and a very surprised, red faced Kevin balancing on the arm of the sofa.

So where had her pillow gone…? Then she realised where, or rather _what_ it had been.

"Sorry!" they both blurted out at the same time.

"I didn't mean to wake you,"

"I didn't mean you use you like a pillow," that sounded so lame…

"It's fine," he leant down to pick up a book that had fallen to the floor.

Gwen wiped the sleep from her eyes, and yawned widely, stretching her stiff limbs. "What is that, anyway? You're not the reading type,"

Kevin didn't reply, just stared at the cover before him.

Gwen snuck a look at it, and saw a familiar leather binding. "Oh,"

He shrugged. "My dad's." there was a deep, nameless emotion in his voice that Gwen couldn't place.

"Kevin?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah?" he sounded cautious.

"I remember you said a while ago…you only had your dad's guitar?"

He nodded, looking at a point just over her shoulder.

"Where did the book come from?" She knew pushing Kevin was not a good idea, but she hazarded it any way.

He cast around for a few moments, as though he'd find a suitable hanging on the wall alongside Mel's Native Canadian artworks. This exercise failed to produce the desired results, so he said, "After I went home with my badge, my mom said she thought there was a box she missed in the attic, so I went up to sort through it, and I found this." He tapped the cover. "I don't think she knew it was there."

Not sure what else to say, Gwen gave him the thumbs up, nodded her head and said, "Cool," feeling flippant.

Kevin shrugged, and stuffed it into his rucksack.

Ben groaned from the floor, and tried to sit upright, but wobbled dangerously. "Argh…my mouth feels like an ashtray. Did I brush my teeth last night?"

Steph mumbled, face down amid the cushions, "Don't know, don't give a shit."

Ben's arms gave out from beneath him, and he fell on top of Steph. Naturally, she swore at him loudly, but couldn't find the energy to get up and start a fight. It took quite a while for them to rally themselves and get downstairs, where Michelle was making waffles. Dylan laughed at the state of Steph's hair, which had refused every attempt to be brushed, and she snarled at him. Gwen was still dragging a brush through her own hair, and Ben took pity when she let it go and it was stuck in a supernaturally large knot.

Erin, Ella and Kev found it funny that they were all so slow today; they were watching Spongebob Squarepants on the TV in the front room when they settled down to eat. Michelle tried and failed to help Steph with her lambs' tail hair, and Tom pushed her out the way, sitting Steph down on the floor, and kneeling on the armchair so he could brush her hair more easily. Ben wasn't ruthless like Tom was (Steph whimpered several times as he attacked her hair), but he wasn't exactly gentle either. Every so often Gwen jumped as he pulled at an extremely stubborn knot.

"Sorry, sorry!" he said apologetically over and over again.

"Ben, promise me something," she said, as she tried to eat a mouthful of waffle, only to have her head jerked back by a forceful brush.

"What?"

"Don't ever be a hair dresser."

"Now you mention it…" he said thoughtfully.

Gwen gave him a dig in the ribs, not too hard, but enough to make him wince.

Finally, they had assembled themselves with some veneer of order, and went back upstairs to chill out. Mel was taking the kids off to a fun fair, and when she asked if the gang wanted to come along as well, Gwen sagged against the wall, Kevin sank onto the stairs, and Ben and Steph pretended to keel over.

"Thanks, but no thanks," was the general consensus.

Steph pulled out Smash Brothers, and they played a few rounds, before playing Steph's favourite game. They played one against the other, both pokémon, using the pokémon stadium. Player 1 dealt an attack, and then waited for player 2 to return the favour, like they used to do in the old cartoons, with Ben given a running commentary.

After the fifth round in which Steph as Mew Two lost to Kevin, who was Jigglypuff, Ben and Gwen were laughing their heads off.

"I refuse to believe I was beaten by a blob." Steph threw her controller down and sulked.

Kevin gave her a superior smirk, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"My turn!" Ben swooped down and grabbed the abandoned controller when no one else claimed it.

Kevin was beside himself when he lost to _Picachu_, of all things. Ben closed his eyes and carried on playing, grinning to himself as Steph gave to commentary, amid gales of laughter.

"And in the right corner, Jigglypuff is getting it handed to him by a small rodent like thing with a lighting bolt for a tail. And his trainer is looking very angry indeed. You notice how when you say 'trainer' it sounds like you're talking about shoes?" she added to Gwen.

"Only cause you're British," Ben said.

"And a heathen." Kevin added.

"Don't mock my accent!" Steph whined. "If anyone, you should mock Mel's Friend River. She's English, but she's moved to Canada, and her accent's like a mixture of the two."

"Where abouts is she?" Kevin asked, lashing out at Ben, who still had his eyes closed.

"British Columbia? You know, just above Washington State." She nodded at the walls. "That's where all this crap comes from. Mel sometimes visits her up there,"

"_Game_!" the console announced, and Kevin threw a hissy fit.

"What the hell!" he demanded as Ben stood up and did a little victory dance.

"Want a go?" Steph asked Gwen.

"Nah," she eyed to controller warily. She didn't do so well on games like that…

"What now?" Kevin asked, still annoyed that he had lost to Ben, who was still dancing around the room singing something that sounded like _I'm better than you hahaha_.

"Hmm," Steph pondered to herself, reaching her long arm out to catch Ben's leg as he danced by. He fell flat on his back with a loud thump as she considered the possibilities. "Tom lent Singstar to a friend of his, so…I duno, watch a movie?"

She and Gwen spent a while agonising over which film to select from the vast collection she and her siblings had amassed over the years. Gwen wanted to watch Muppet Treasure Island, but the others weren't as keen.

"What about Christmas Carol?" she asked.

"But it's not Christmas!" Ben was mortified at the very thought of watching a seasonal film _out of season_.

They didn't get round to watching anything in the end. Tom came in, scratching his head and looking rather worried. "You heard the news?"

"Huh?" Steph and Kevin stopped in the act of wrestling each other to the ground, balancing precariously on the balls of their feet. "What happened?"

"Apparently something landed in the forest outside Bellwood, they said it was a meteor or something…" He gave them all a quizzical look. When no one replied, he went on. "Right where there happens to be a fair?"

"You're not saying…" Ben said slowly.

"Bitch!" Steph yelled, raising the hand she had been using to support herself and point at Tom accusingly. She and Kevin toppled over onto the floor. "We worked our arses off yesterday for the good of the Earth, and suddenly that's not good enough for you! You have any idea how much we actually _do_ on patrol?!"

"Well," Tom said calmly and fairly, guaranteed to wind her up even more. "I just thought you should know _Mel and the kids_ are out there." He reminded them.

"Shit," Steph sprang to her feet dashed off to grab her things.

"I hate you," Kevin accused Tom, rolling onto his side and heaving himself up. "Now we have to go on _another_ wild goose chase."

"Could be worse," Ben said cheerfully from Gwen's side on the sofa. "Could be-"

Kevin and Gwen both swooped in at the same time and clamped their hands over his mouth. He looked thoroughly annoyed at them, but Steph came back, and gave him a glare that effectively shut him up.

Gwen rolled her eyes and grabbed her shoes. It would be another long day, she could just feel it.

---

Mel had taken her minuscule car to the fair. Steph pointed out that, while Kevin was modifying her own car, her's had four-wheel drive, and the fair was off road. He accepted with the grace of a five year old, but she stuffed him in the back with Ben anyway, and sat Gwen next to her.

The ancient radio played about half a decibel at full blast, so Steph set her phone in her pocket to a local radio station. They said very little, and yawned a lot. Gwen suggested stopping to get something to eat, and frowned at them when Steph got sugary junk.

Steph shrugged and passed the chocolate and coke around. She took some 'healthy' snacks and waved them in Gwen's face. "Look, see? Carbohydrates! Starch, and glucose, for slow releasing energy. Read your biology text book."

Gwen finally gave in and munched on a chocolate bar as Steph started the jeep up again. "I knew you'd see things my way," Steph said smugly.

Gwen swore at her, and she backed down at once. Gwen _never_ swore unless she was _really _pissed off about something.

It made Steph laugh when Kevin choked on his drink and said (after Ben thumped him on the back several times), "I didn't think you knew how to swear!"

Steph exchanged a look with Ben in the mirror.

Three, two, one…zero-point-five…zero-point-two-five…

"Excuse me?" Gwen rounded on him.

Steph frowned at the road before her. "My timing's off…"

"Where'd you get to?" Ben asked, leaning forward, ignoring the other two fighting.

"Point-two-five. You?"

"Two."

"Damnit. We're loosing our touch." She muttered to herself.

The turnoff to the fair was a bumpy dirt track, and Steph was sure she pulled something in her neck by the time she had parked in the field with the other cars.

"Okay," Ben said as they slammed the doors shut. "We go in,"

"Find the thing Tom was on about," Kevin continued.

"Look for Alien activity," Gwen stifled a yawn.

"And get the hell back home." Steph concluded. "Ben, you're with me."

There was a general outcry over the decision, but Steph shook her head and pushed Gwen and Kevin towards the gates. "Have fun!" she trilled happily, waving them off. Gwen stalked on ahead, and if look could kill – the glare she was getting from Kevin should have had her lying on the grass with blood spurting from her neck.

"What the hell, Steph?" Ben hissed as they went to the other entrance.

Steph tapped the side of her nose with a grin, and pointed beyond the gates. "See that stall?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Can't you see the sign from here?"

Ben squinted, before grinning himself. "Clotted Cream Fudge?"

Steph leaned dramatically against the fence and proclaimed, "My blood sugar's low…" they slipped past the bored looking guard with Steph flashing her badge. He raised an eyebrow, but let them through anyway. Steph bounced down the trail to the colourful tents and the fudge stall. "It makes me special to do that,"

Ben laughed. "Like in the movies!"

"I'm an inspector!" Steph announced, looking at the fudge. "Oooh, they have vanilla as well!"

Steph's standard tactics for getting information was to sweet talk people in the general vicinity. Ben followed her, munching on various foods they bought. From what they could gather, something had hit the forest in the early hours of the morning, but it was so insignificant that the fair had not been cancelled. No one seemed particularly bothered, and Steph lost interest rather quickly.

Ben gave her a bored look, and she said, "Let's go find the others."

Kevin and Gwen were on the perimeter of the fair ground, looking around in general, looking as bored as Steph felt.

"Sup?" she asked, offering them some fudge.

"We haven't looked at the forest yet," Gwen told them.

"What about you?" Kevin asked.

"Everyone's heard of some meteor landing here and no one gives a shit." Steph repeated her information, taking a swig from her coke can. "This is a dud."

"Let's just check the forest to be sure," Ben pointed out.

Ten minutes later, they were walking among the trees, searching for signs of DNAlien activity, and failing. "Remind me _why_ I listened to him?" she said to Kevin as they climbed over a log.

"It doesn't hurt to be thorough." Ben said primly.

Gwen said nothing on the subject.

"Yeah, thoroughly irritating…" Steph muttered darkly.

"Steph?" Gwen said in a small voice.

"Sup?" she looked over her shoulder.

Gwen was looking at a clearing about twenty feet from where they were standing, very close to the car park. "I think I found something."

Steph took a few strides over to her, and looked over her shoulder. A one-man capsule was sitting in a depression in the soil, looking very beaten up and weathered. "And how the hell did that go undiscovered by the people running the fair?" she demanded to know.

The boys stood either side of her, and Kevin said, "Cause they didn't give a shit."

Gwen gave elbowed him in the stomach.

"What!" he demanded. "Seriously, what did I do?! Steph swears all the time, and you don't beat her up!"

"You'll live," Steph said vaguely. She wanted to go home and have power nap. "Let's just get this over with. I could sleep for a week after yesterday,"

She ducked around Gwen and leant forward, feeling the warm, familiar sensation of transforming, and then beat her wings to catch the up draft. She landed not too far from the capsule, and waited for the others to follow her.

Kevin placed a hand on the metal and absorbed it; Gwen readied her stance, and Ben flicked through his aliens and settled on a particular one. "Ready?" Kevin asked.

Steph flexed her wings, causing a draft that flattened the grass around her. "The suspense is killing me." She drawled.

Kevin pushed the release button, and the air rushed into the capsule as the door opened. They all took a step back, except Steph who hunched her shoulders, preparing to spring if she had to. The rock she was perched on gave her a good angle to get in front of the others if they needed cover. Her talons scraped along the rock, leaving deep gouges in them.

The door slowly swung open, and a person stumbled out drunkenly, as though they had just woken up. Whoever it was, they were wearing a tatty looking Plumber's suit with a badly dented helmet that was misted up so the face was impossible to see.

Everyone was tensed, like a coiled spring, just waiting for an excuse to leap forward. At least, Steph and Kevin were; the Tennyson's were being a bit more cautious.

A male voice groaned from inside the helmet, and he reached up to pull it off. "Where is this?" he asked. He had an English accent, and a geriatric one at that; Steph couldn't place it, to any corner of the UK.

"Like you don't know," Kevin muttered to himself.

The man's head shot up in the direction of his voice. "Who's that?" he said sharply, lumbering forward awkwardly towards Kevin.

Steph launched herself forward and tackled the man to the ground. Ben disappeared in a flash of green light, and Swampfire ran to her aid. For appearing so drunk, the man was surprisingly strong. He threw them both off, and went after Kevin again. He grabbed his arm, but Kevin pulled him off and aimed a punch to his gut. The man grabbed his wrist and pulled him off balance. Gwen hit him with a solid wall of manna, knocking him over before Steph got her talons into his suit. The bird equivalent of a snarl ripped from her throat as she leant down to peck at the helmet.

Suddenly, her vision was filled with a bright light that left her momentarily dazed, but that was all it took for the large, hazel brown and red bird to knock her over and pin her to the ground. She squawked loudly in protest, and then she felt the weight removed. Kevin had taken a swing at the other Avis and thrown him off. Steph took to the air, hoping to get above their attacker and pile drive them into the ground.

No such luck.

The other Avis chased after her, and it became apparent very quickly that she was out of her depth when it came to aerial tactics. Every time she tried to get the upper hand, he was already there, blocking her attacks. When she tried to land he would swooped underneath her and rise up so suddenly it knocked her off balance and she would have to spin off to one side and gain altitude or plummet into the forest.

God only knew what the fair goers were thinking…

Steph's pride was hurt more than anything else, especially when she finally lost her balance and crash landed on top of Kevin in the clearing. She screeched loudly, hoping to deafen their attacker instead, but it turned into a real scream when she saw Mel standing at the edge of the clearing.

"MEL! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" If anything happened to her sister because of her she would actually kill herself.

Mel ran up to stand beside Gwen, paying no attention to Steph's command.

Kevin and Steph righted themselves in time to receive another attack. The Avis landed heavily on the ground and ran at them, beak open in a battle cry. Steph lunged forward clumsily, trying not to knock Kevin over again. He went for the legs, and she reached up to catch the face; eyes, throat, anything she could sink her beak into. It was scary, knowing Mel was in the danger zone, with the kids nowhere to be seen, and that this enraged person could quite easily over power them all. She felt as though he was toying with them; he let her get back up before striking her down again.

In one last desperate attempt, Steph tried to fly in low and take him down, but he jumped out of the way and pinned her to the ground with his talons, beak hovering dangerously close to her jugular vein.

"I've had enough of these childish games," he hissed in her ear. "I do not have time for this.

Kevin dived at him, and managed to get his arms around the Avis' neck. He reared up, and Steph seized her chance to spring up and take him down. The world spun dizzyingly for a moment before she had him pinned to the ground, with her friends flanking her either side.

"Play times over," she growled. Then, just because she could, she snapped her beak closed loudly by his ear.

He struggled, but Gwen made a glowing pink net out of thin air, and bound him to the ground. Steph hopped back, and began preening her ruffled feathers.

"Okay, Steph?" Kevin punched her scaly leg. "That line is _way_ over used."

"Well, screw you." she said, unconcerned.

Mel walked forward slowly, eyes wide.

"And I told you to get the hell out of here!" Steph accused.

"Stephenie," she said in a quiet voice.

She cocked her head to one said and appraised her sister. "Sup?"

"Let his head go," Mel said to Gwen.

Carefully, she let the line across his neck go, and he whipped his head around to look at them all. What a motley crew they must be, thought Steph.

The Avis' eyes widened until they were nearly as big as Kevin's fist, and he murmured, "Michelle?"

Steph's beak should have hit the ground, but her jaw didn't quite reach that far.

You could have heard a pin drop in that clearing.

That was when she noticed those wide eyes – they were the same crystalline blue as Mel's eyes. The same as her own.

She felt detached from reality, like she was passively watching through the eyes of another person, as Gwen's own shock set in and the net dissolved into nothingness. He stood up slowly, rearranging his wings, before disappearing in a flash of harsh white light, and pulling his helmet off.

A gaunt, sickly pale face with hollow eyes stared at Mel, with limp, greasy hair reaching down beyond his shoulders in muddy brown and dirty red. He looked like he was on the brink of death, both physically and mentally; and everyone said _Steph_ was skinny thought she ate like a horse. This man was skeletal, and the strain in his face was evident, though it was mostly replaced by awe as he searched Mel's own face.

"Melanie?" he asked hoarsely.

Steph's brain refused to link all the evidence together to form the so plainly obvious truth.

"Is that you?"

Steph threw a quick glance at the others; Gwen looked as thought she would faint any moment, Ben looked completely lost, and Kevin looked thoroughly confused.

She had no idea how she felt; numb, she supposed.

"Father," she murmured.

Then, just when the tension was about to become too much, he rushed forward and pulled her into a bone breaking hug. A laugh escaped his throat, which turned into a sob, and tears were falling from his bewildered eyes.

Steph was frozen in place, unable to move, though she tried to tell her body to phase back. The links in her brain were disconnected, nothing responded to her commands.

Mel gave her a meaningful look over the man's shoulder. "Steph's here, too," she said.

He whipped around and looked her straight in the eye. Somehow, the message got through and she felt the feathers withdraw to leave her standing several feet shorter and a lot less insulated. Still in shock.

Before she could react to anything, she was swept up into a hug as well, and he laughed out loud, saying, "Stephenie, my little Stephenie, all grown up…"

Does not compute.

"What the hell," she managed to ask, her vocal cords constricting in a weird way she had never felt before.

The man held her at arms length, beaming at her. Only when Kevin waved a hand in her face and said, "Cooey! Anyone home?" and knock his fist against her forehead did she react.

She wrenched his wrist to one side and gave him a shove out of habit, but she kept her eyes fixed on those two sapphires watching her from the death mask.

Slowly, unbidden, she found her voice. Or maybe her voice found her, lost as she was in her deadened mind.

"Dad…?"

---

**MWHA! A cliff hanger! How original ;) I have to go now and sleep for this exam, but I'll be starting the next chapter tomorrow and hopefully finish it before the weekend. If not, there's a nice big basket of virtual rotting fruit here which you can throw at me. ;)**

**As always, you're thoughts are greatly appreiciated! Also, if the paragraphs and sentences seem a bit spacky, I was trying to apply my GCSE English learnings to it by changing the sentenc estructure to fit the mood. I'm not sure if I did a good job of it...so, lemme know! :)**

**xxx**


	22. It's a Long Story

**AN: I wrote this all in one day, and now I'm dead beat, and going to bed, because I'm exhausted, and this elusive state of mind known as 'sleep' is hard to come by at the moment…**

**Enjoy! ;D**

**_It's a Long Story…_**

Shocked didn't even begin to cover it.

Gwen's brain refused to accept that she was looking at Steph's father.

He was holding her at arms length, laughing and crying at the same time, and she was staring back as though she was looking straight through him. The moment was so surreal, and unexpected.

Yet, Gwen couldn't help but notice that there were such striking similarities between them. The long limbs, the angular facial features, though his stuck out more prominently because of his extreme thinness. And those eyes. Gwen would recognise those them anywhere; she had come to associate that colour with Steph, the way they flashed when she was getting into mischief, and the way they sparkled when she was having fun.

Mel stepped forward calmly and tapped the man's elbow. "I know there's a lot to be talk about, but maybe we should go home first."

Steph nodded mechanically, like she had heard but not understood the words.

This was strictly family business, but Gwen wanted to give Steph a hug to reassure her, the way she had always been there for Gwen when things got insane.

Ben crept up and said the Mel, "Where are the kids?"

That snapped Steph out of her trance, and she looked sharply at her sister. Their father merely looked bemused.

"With Dylan in the car. He and Tom came by a while ago. I heard Steph screeching loudly so I came to see what the fuss was about."

More like she felt a disturbance in the force or something equally mystical… Though Gwen kept her thoughts to herself; Mel didn't normally talk about her powers of intuition. Gwen inched forward to Steph, and tentatively put an arm around her. By now, Steph must have been taller than Kevin, so she had to settle for her back rather than her shoulder, but Steph leant into the embrace, seeking comfort.

Kevin gently pressed his knuckles into her shoulder. "You okay?"

No response.

"Let's go," Ben murmured, tugging Steph's other arm.

She let the three of them lead her back to the car, her expression deadpan.

Gwen was aware of Mel and her father behind them, but she put all her concentration into Steph. Long Lost Alien Grandmother was nothing compared to a Prodigal Father.

---

One of the more weirder days of Kevin's life, and considering he had been to the Null Void and back, that was saying something.

Steph was sitting bolt upright on the sofa in the front room while Mel was sorting out towels and clothes for their dad. Ben and Gwen sat either side of her, and he was perched on the arm next to Gwen. Tom and Dylan were keeping the kids occupied upstairs in the mean time with a movie, so it was mostly silent.

Kevin waited for someone to say something. He cleared his throat loudly.

"So," Ben started, but the sentence died on his lips after one syllable.

"Nice weather," Kevin commented.

Gwen gave him a dig in the ribs.

"What!" he demanded. "You're always beating me up," he sulked

Steph's lip twitched upwards for a moment, but her eyes remained fixed at a point on the wall above the TV. Drastic times called for drastic measures; Kevin leant over and poked her hard just beneath the rib cage. She practically hit the ceiling before rounding on him.

"Stop doing that!" she wrestled him to the floor.

Kevin laughed and sprang to his feet, backing away. Steph grinned fiercely for a moment, aiming a punch at his stomach. She flopped back down onto the sofa beside Ben, looking more alive again. "You know," she stated bluntly, trying to pull together some semblance of the person she had been that morning.

"You know…" she trailed away. "You know what? I dunno what to say."

"Smoothie break?" Ben asked hopefully, jumping to his feet.

Gwen grabbed the back of his jacket before he could take three steps and said, "Sit," in a flat tone.

Steph stared at the wall again, slipping into that deadpan expression that creeped Kevin out. She was always so boisterous and had an opinion on everything, which just had to be voiced; when she was quiet like this is scared him. A punch on the arm earned a few of her choicest curses.

"You are actually getting on my nerves now." She snarled. "I am going to actually gut you like a fish,"

"Like you always say you will," he teased.

Steph produced a penknife from her pocket and flicked the slender, lethal blade out. "Don't tempt me. I'm feeling slightly psychotic today."

At least she was slowly coming out of shock. Kevin wondered how he would feel in that situation, meeting his long lost father under those circumstances.

"Gwen?" Steph said suddenly. "Can I talk to you a sec?"

"Sure," They both stood up and made to leave the room. Gwen had to use a force field to keep Ben from following.

Steph managed to crack a joke, saying, "No Y chromosomes allowed," giving Gwen a nudge on the arm. She was a bit too forceful, making Gwen wince, and they went through to the kitchen with her saying, "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you…"

"Girls," Ben muttered to himself, pulling his phone and texting Julie.

---

While Steph's brain had shut down, it had been putting everything into order, so when she finally started to back to reality, everything was neat and logical for her to understand.

Her dad was alive, and currently washing his hair. Mel was going to talk to Gerald first, and then they were going to debrief their mum before the 'big reunion' and then Steph had only a million or two questions that she wanted answered. Her rebooted mind was trying to make sense of the new information.

Gwen was helping herself to some water from the filter, and turned to her. "What is it?"

Steph managed a laugh. "You have to ask?"

Gwen's expression was hard to read; the prominent emotion seemed to be concern. "It's a lot to take in," she said finally.

Steph swore under her breath. "…in' hell."

Mel came into the kitchen, holding the house phone. "I'm calling Gerald," she told them, then pressed the speed dial. Gwen perched on the counter, and Steph grabbed an apple, twisting the stalk off, then aimlessly throwing it into the air and catching it again. A memory arose in her mind; standing outside the assembly hall by the covered way at school, messing around" with her the rest of her A level Chemistry classmates and the GCSE English Language students. She had stolen Mikey's tennis ball and had thrown it into the air, up and down by the lockers to pass the time away before they were called in to start the nine o'clock slot at quarter to ten. Anything that was comforting and familiar at this point in the day was greatly welcome.

"Hey Gerald, it's Mel." She said, taking a glass from the cupboard and searching on the shelves. "I think we need to break out the whiskey."

"Bit much," Steph muttered to herself. Oh maybe, a good stiff drink would be just what the doctor ordered…

"It's been a strange day, so I'm just going to come clean with you. Steph and Co. went along to that fair to investigate possible alien activity, and they found our father instead."

Bomb shell much. Steph couldn't help but pull a face.

Gwen sighed loudly. "At least you're actually responding now," she said.

Steph looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Earlier you just sort of…shut down." Gwen looked worried again. "It was scary. I've never seen you do that before."

Steph shrugged. Miley and River between them would probably have a theory on that; Miley and her chemistry and biological know how, knowing the ins and outs of the human body, and River with her psycho babble, knowing the minds defence mechanisms that kicked in to keep people from going insane under extreme pressure. Why were all her friends nut cases?

"I know," Mel went on. "He hasn't said anything, but I've outlined what's happened in the last few years. He said he was trying to get to the Avis home planet, but the controls must have malfunctioned. Yes, of course. Okay, I'll see you soon. Bye," she put the phone down, and looked up at the other two. "I'm sorry Gwen, but I think it's best if you and the boys go home. This is going to be awkward enough without dragging you three into it too. It's not fair on you,"

"That's fine," Gwen assured her. "We'll go to the workshop or something." She gave Steph a hug, and this time her arms responded to the command to return the favour. "You'll be okay."

"Put it this way," Steph said, walking ahead of them to the living room. "If there's any bloodshed, you'll hear me yelling and screaming from the other side of town, alright?"

Gwen laughed, and wrapped her arms around Steph's slim waist. "You never change,"

"I know," she said dramatically. "I'll forever be the Bain of Ben's life." She walked across the room, and kicked Kevin's leg.

He glared at her. "What the hell, Steph?"

"Throw out time," she said, kicking Ben's leg as well. He merely gave her a bemused expression. "This is gonna be bad enough without you lot sticking your ugly mugs in it."

"Family politics should be kept separate from friendship politics." Mel said rationally from the door.

"Like how the West should keep its big nose out of the East's, but we don't. But that's besides the point." Steph pointed out.

"Later, bitch," Kevin said, punching her arm.

Ben gave her a hug. "Call us when you've sorted everything out and we'll go for a smoothie."

"I get to pick!" Steph warned.

He surprised her by smiling sincerely and saying, "Sure thing!"

"Wow." She blinked. "That took a lot of persuasion."

They said goodbye, and left in Kevin's car. Steph flopped onto the sofa and stared at the wall again. Mel came and sat beside her for a bit before she wordlessly stood up and left the room. Dylan came down only a few moments later and plonked himself down beside her. "Hey,"

"No thanks, I'm not a horse," she retorted.

Dylan beamed at her. "Nothing fazes you, does it?"

"I scared the shit out of Gwen, apparently." She said conversationally. "Ben looked worried as well."

"I think Kevin was concerned as well." He added.

"Hmm," was all she could think of to say. God she had some awesome friends.

"Here," in a very uncharacteristic display of affection, Dylan gave her a hug.

"What is this, The National Day Of Hugging?" she asked, but really she was touched. It wasn't like Dylan to act like an older brother rather than the prat he could be at times.

"Hug!" he yelled, trying to flatten her.

Steph yelped, and they started a wrestling match, punctuating by curses from both sides, until Tom and Mel entered the room, flanked by her dad.

Steph looked up, wide eyed, suddenly feeling her brain threaten to shut down again. Dylan, oddly enough, saved her poor brain, by giving her an almighty shove off the sofa and onto the floor, saying, "She so started it!"

"You _bastard_," she snapped back, rubbing the sore spot on the back of her head. "You really are, you know." she growled at him.

Tom sighed loudly, walking past them to sit in the comfy armchair, cuffing them both round the head. "You're worse than a pair of five year olds."

"Not," Dylan sulked. Steph sat on the floor, unsure of what else to do. Mel sank gracefully beside Dylan, and her father took to the other armchair on the opposite side of the room.

She guessed it was only natural that he would be watching her, but it was still unnerving. Sure, that man sitting in that chair was the one who had spawned her, but other than that, she felt no connection at all. Dylan and Tom remained silent, whether to be tactful or because they were nervous about the situation, was anyone's guess.

It felt like forever before Gerald's car pulled up in the drive. Dylan rushed to answer the door before he could even take the keys from the ignition. Steph half rose to follow him, but suddenly decided this was a comfy patch of wooden floor; so comfy in fact, she didn't want to move quite just yet.

Mel stood up as Dylan shadowed his father in the doorway, and Steph looked up from her patch of wooden floor.

Gerald came in, and appraised the situation as calmly as always. The other man, sitting in the chair, looked him up and down, before slowly standing up, his face hard to read (although that may have been Steph's lacking ability to read emotions).

"Gerald, this is Ian Smith. Dad, this is our stepfather Gerald."

"Pleased to meet you," Gerald said politely and sincerely.

"And you," he nodded, eyes darting around the room warily.

"Where's Michelle?" Tom asked, breaking the following silence.

"On her way," Gerald told him. Then, to Ian, he said, "These are my boys, Tom and Dylan." He motioned to them. Tom raised a hand in a half wave, smiling slightly. Dylan kept his mouth shut for once.

Mel bustled off to make tea and coffee, leaving them all in awkward silence. "You know, I think Mel could use some help," Dylan stated, and left the room in record time.

_Coward_, Steph thought to herself. "I will too," _Wait for me!_

"Jesus," Dylan whistled to himself. "This is so weird…"

"How do you think_ I_ feel?" Steph demanded.

"Calm down," Mel stuffed a box of herbs underneath her nose, and Steph breathed in the aroma deeply. Lavender, and something else she couldn't identify invaded her senses and eased the growing panic. What was going to happen when their mum got home? This could end very badly…

---

In the end, Steph needn't have worked herself up so much.

Her mother had stopped dead in her tracks, jaw dropped, and then she burst into floods of tears. It was such a long and involved story, that Steph missed most of it, but she listened to the sound of his voice as he explained what had happened.

Ian didn't seem in the least bit upset that his wife had remarried and had another child with a different man. He kept saying over and over that he was happy she had pulled through and moved in with life, and thanked Gerald endlessly for being there for her. Dylan soon found the confidence to crack some jokes, and Tom rolled his eyes.

Steph sat with Kev on the floor, watching in awe as her father went onto explain what he had to do now.

"I originally tried to make it to Re'ath to alert my Magister what had happened, but something was wrong with the console. I ended up here instead. I'm so sorry for the trouble I've caused,"

"You were a hostage, why the hell should you be apologising?" Dylan asked.

Ian shrugged, rubbing the stubble on his jaw out of habit. "Still,"

"It's fine, Ian." Michelle assured him. It was weird, possibly even more so than the rest of the day put together, to see both her parents together in the same room. It was pure effing insanity, that's what it was. And for once, Steph didn't chip in like she knew she would have if it had been one of her friends, and had done when Verdona swung by Earth.

"Anyway," she went on before he could argue back, "you look dead on your feet. You can't travel anywhere like this." Then she departed to start dinner. "Mel, Steph, Dylan, I'll need help," she called.

"Subtle," Dylan said sarcastically.

Tom nudged his foot. "Lay off, Dyl. It's been a long day."

Steph stood up stiffly and stretched her muscles. Dylan aimed a punch at her, and she grinned at him, returning the favour before legging it. "Can't catch me!" she trilled in a high voice.

Dylan ran after her, laughing. "Look, an alien!"

Shit! "Where?" she spun round, readying her stance and automatically readying her mind to phase.

Somehow, he managed to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder, marching into the kitchen as Tom and Gerald laughed from the living room. "Bloody hell, Steph. You weigh a ton!"

"Well you're no pixie either…" she glowered at the tiled floor below her.

---

Gerald was come to terms with recent events.

He had no qualms about Ian at all, but his main concern was Michelle's reaction. How uncomfortable it was to sit in the with his wife and her ex they believed to have been dead for fifteen years, and they were talking very calmly to each other!

And then there was Steph, who had sat on the floor, wide eyed like a child being told that Santa wasn't real. Poor girl, it was too much for someone her age to take in in one day; he knew his own head was swimming with all the new information. God only knew what was going through Steph's mind.

"I really am sorry," Ian began.

Gerald shook his head, and raised a hand to silence him. "There is nothing to apologise for. Honestly," he smiled.

Tom yawned widely. "He'll Steph on you if you don't," he laughed to himself. It was Gerald's ultimate threat, setting Steph on someone.

Ian's expression became clouded, as it so often did. "Stephenie," he said slowly to himself. "She's not very talkative."

Tom burst out laughing, and Gerald chuckled along with him. Ian was confused until Tom clarified, "She doesn't shut up normally. She has something to say about anything and everything, and she has a habit of saying things out of turn. I think her minds in shock at the moment, that's all. When her mind wraps around this, she'll be back to her old, outspoken self."

Gerald sighed, shaking his head. Sometimes, Tom was as annoying as his younger brother, but in a more subtle way. "That's enough, Thomas."

He grinned at him before settling back in his armchair.

Mel came back with food (nothing too elaborate, just a plain pasta dish), and they ate together in relative silence. Then they cleared away and started on sleeping arrangements. Tom agreed to sleep on Dylan's floor so Ian could have a room to himself, and Mel went off with her mother to sort out bed linen. Steph slipped away after them, not escaping everyone's notice like she had hoped.

When Dylan and Tom went to bully the twins and Kev into going to bed, shooing them away from Ian (they had sat all evening staring at him like he was a piece of abstract art), he said to Gerald, "Have I done something wrong?"

"No," he said, surprised that he would think that, after all the times everyone kept saying the only people at fault were the ones who had run that infernal slave labour camp in that far flung sector of their galaxy. "What is it?"

Unwillingly, Ian met his gaze and said, "Mel seems happy enough that I'm here again, but Stephenie…"

Of course he would feel that way. Gerald said, "She doesn't remember you all that well. I remember when I first met her, she and Mel used to play games and pretend you had turned up out of the blue and they were going on adventures everywhere with you. She grew out of that stage when she began to realise that she may never actually meet you. Now that you're actually here, I don't think she quite believes it." Gerald tried to think of something kind to say. "Maybe if you just go and talk to her… She used to listen to Max Tennyson's stories all the time. And by the look on her face earlier, I don't think half of what you said sank in."

"Am I that boring?" Ian lamented, but beneath the gaunt face and the lank, hazel brown and red hair, his eyes twinkled with deep humour, just like how Steph's did when she was making a joke.

"It's what she does when it's too much to take in. I've seen her do it before; she listens but doesn't absorb a lot because her mind's in shock. She'll come round in a few days, and then she'll be pestering you with questions non-stop."

---

It was late, even by Steph's standards, but she couldn't sleep.

Finally, she got out of bed and crawled out of the skylight onto the roof to get some fresh air. It was cool outside, with a full moon hanging in the sky, so clear you could reach out and pluck it from between the stars.

"Hello," said a voice conversationally to her right.

"Gah!" She was so surprised she nearly fell off the roof, but a pair of long, warm hands grabbed under arms and pulled her up. Steph, startled, looked up to see her own eyes staring back. She jumped backwards automatically, tensing to fight or run for it. Stupid adrenaline levels… She tried to relax when she saw the hurt flit across her father's face. It wasn't his fault he'd been taken from her before she could walk or talk. "Sorry, you just scared the hell out of me," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry," he bowed his head.

Steph pulled her legs up and hugged them to her chest, chin resting on her knees, and stared up at the sky. So many questions to ask! She settled on the easiest one first, "Why are you up here?"

He shrugged. "I wanted some air. It's been too long since I saw the sky properly."

She vaguely remembered him staring at the sky in the car as they drove home today, and nodded. It made complete sense. She said, in a very sheepish tone, "I sort of blanked when you were talking earlier…"

He didn't look surprised.

"What the hell happened? How the hell did you get back?" She wanted answers.

He took a deep breath, and began explaining from the beginning again, and this time Steph listened to each word and digested everything he said.

Ian had been drafted into the Clan army to fight a war in the neighbouring sector. He had been shot down and left for dead by his commanding officer, but a group of raiders made off with him and sold him as a slave, and he had ended up on the other side of the Milkyway, away from his friends and family, thinking they would never see him again. Steph felt a familiar ache in her chest as she remembered all the times she had wondered to herself what life would have been like if her father hadn't gone to fight in some far off war. That must have been nothing to how he must have felt, all alone in that prison camp.

Only a few days ago, the camp had been raided, and he had been taken prisoner by another group of criminals, and taken on their ship. He and some other slaves had broken ranks and reached the escape pods before they were shot down. Of the twelve that made it from their cells, only three made it into capsules, and he didn't know if they had made it home or not.

"I was trying to reach my home planet. My Magister is – or was – stationed there. That would have been my first port of call, and from there I would have sent a message to Earth. But," he shrugged, "as you can see, that plan didn't work so well."

"Wow," Steph looked at him in a different light now. "That's incredible."

"But enough about you," he said, suddenly sounding a lot more enthusiastic. "Tell me about you, I've missed out on so much!"

Steph blinked. "What do you want to know?" She always thought that her life was insignificant in comparison to some people, and she hadn't cared either way about it.

"Everything, I don't care," he insisted.

His zeal was infectious, so Steph started to describe every insignificant detail about her life, starting with school, her friends there, what they got up to, and her friend's outside school from the sports clubs she had joined. He was fascinated by everything she had to say, even down to boring details like her teachers, and how she spent every break and lunch time throwing paper aeroplanes, or plotting against Felicity Woking. Then she talked about Gerald and her brothers, trying to convey that while they were as closely bonded to her as possible without blood relations, Gerald had always made the distinction between _parental authority_ and _father_. How he had never asked her or Mel to call him 'Dad', saying it would be an insult to Ian's memory. She spoke in no logical order, preferring to say things as they came to mind, which she hardly ever did these days. He was keenly interested in her and her friends being 'honorary Plumbers', but she Steph didn't care about it one bit.

"What about you?" she asked finally. "What did you do before you got captured?"

"I was a Plumber. I worked on the battlefield mostly, along with some close friends of mine. I used to play in a band before I signed up, but my guitar went missing, and I think I know who to blame…"

"Who?"

"My brother always did have his eye on it," he pulled a face at the memory.

"I play guitar," Steph mentioned, and they launched into a whole new conversation about music.

She found she was enjoying this a lot; it was still odd to think of this man as her 'father' but as a new friend? She could do that easily.

Steph laughed as he regaled her with stories of the last gig he did with the band before he left to train. "They were sad to see me go, but it's what I wanted to do. And I met loads of new people at the training centre." His eyes misted over with the memories.

Steph raised her chin up slightly, and said, "Something's bugging me,"

"Go on," he encouraged when she didn't continue.

"When we found you today," she paused again before she went one. "Why did you lumber after Kevin?"

"Kevin…?" he frowned for a moment, before his face lit up again. "Oh! He's your friend is he? His father was my best friend from the training camp; he sounded so like his father, but with a different accent. It threw me for a moment. I thought I had died and he was calling me forth to heaven or something. If you could come back as a ghost, I wouldn't put it past Devin to pull a trick on me like that…"

"Mum said something about you and Kevin's dad a few days ago." She said, nodding to herself. All the missing pieces in the puzzle she had never known were there were slowly falling into place. Mel, and even River (damn that woman to hell) often said everything in our lives are linked together in an inextricable web, and everything was boxed in so intimately that when you realised the connection, it was even more surprising how close the person was to you.

Ian nodded. "He went missing a week before I left for the war. I never heard anything after that, I was too far away."

"He was never found either." Steph frowned, thinking of her dark haired friend.

He dad looked saddened by the thought, and they both stared at the sky again.

Finally, he turned to her and said, "Look, the last thing I want to do is bring dissention to the family,"

"But you _are_ family!" Steph protested. Duh! How could it be any plainer that she had his genes?

"What I mean is, I don't want to break up Gerald and your mother just by miraculously turning up like this. Anyway, I have to go back to my Clan; my parents have to know, and my brothers and sisters," he gave her an odd look, before saying, "I'm not saying you have to, but…if you wanted to come and stay for a bit once this mess is cleared up, I'm sure my parents would be happy to put you up for a few nights."

Steph's eyes grew wide for what felt the millionth time that day. "You mean permanently?"

"Of course not!" he seemed aghast at the thought. "I can see how happy you are living here on earth with your friends. Just that, if you wanted to, you know…" he struggled for the right words. "I mean, connect with your alien heritage…I'd be happy to help you. And…God, this is going to sound so cheesy! I haven't been around to see you grow up, and as much as I'd like to, I can't turn back time, so…Even if it's literally just hanging out on a different planet every so often, maybe I can make up for all the time I've lost…"

"What about Mel?" Steph asked.

He laughed good-naturedly. "She wants to keep her feet planted firmly on the ground. I asked her earlier today, and she said she would feel out of place on Re'ath, but thanks for the offer anyway." His eyes twinkled in the starlight.

"Okay, you're on." Steph grinned, and his face lit up. "But," she held up a finger to emphasise her point, and his smile faded. "Only if you have fish and chips on Re'ath."

"Done and done," he held out his hand to shake.

Steph took it, and gave it a firm shake. She cringed from how delicate his bones felt beneath her grip, like they would shatter any moment. "You could do with some fattening up," she tried to joke.

He smiled peacefully at her, looking totally and completely at ease for the first time that day. Steph had never really been hugged by Gerald. Okay, sure, he would give her a one armed hug, but she had never wanted or needed to seek comfort from him, and she was well past the stage where she needed reassurance from her mother, but now Steph was gripped by a powerful desire to hug her father. It felt so awkward to lean forward, and wrap her arms around her neck, the way she hugged her friends when they were larking about.

Ian pulled her closer, and kissed the top of her head, rocking her back and forth the way you see parents do with young children. For once, she didn't care that she was being treated like a five year old; she liked it. He felt so fragile in her embrace, like she would wake up and find this was all just a dream and when she woke up, he wouldn't be there anymore.

"Ssh," he soothed gently.

It was then she realised tears were streaming down her face.

Something, buried deeply in her long-term memory, rose to the surface of her mind. An echo of a smell, like the one she could detect now, mixed with the smell of her old, ragged blanket that had eventually been thrown out because it had more holes than a fish net, and something that may have been leather…

What she smelled now was something hot and spicy, like peppers, and a faint whiff of the shampoo Mel had dug out for him that afternoon. A mixture of old and newly remembered smells; bring the past and the present closer together, and lighting up a new future she hadn't known she could have.

The next thing she remembered was bright sunlight, and feeling her cramped muscles scream in protest as she sat up. She was lying on the platform on the roof, and her father was lying spread-eagled on his back, snoring gently.

Steph blinked; it hadn't been a dream at all.

The Ian stirred, casting blindly for his daughter's missing presence. He sat up slowly, yawning widely and brushing the hair from his eyes. Something twinged in his neck, and he fell back down with a curse. "Pulled a bloody tendon," he muttered to himself, rubbing the sore muscles and yawning again.

Steph beamed at him. All of a sudden, she saw _exactly_ where she got all her traits from.

"And we're smirking at…what, exactly?" he asked.

"Nothing," she grinned, springing to her feet, ignoring the burning feeling in her calf muscles. "I duno about you, but this Plumber is _starving_." She held out a hand to him, and he took it. Again, Steph was surprised by how light and brittle he felt.

"Your mother's waffles are legendary," he agreed.

Steph dived through the skylight, giving Gerald the fright of his life. "Sorry!" she caught him before he fell over.

"I should learn to expect this from you," he sighed. "Ben has called no less than five times this morning. I think he may want to talk to you,"

Steph whipped out her phone. "Tell me where the nearest well is," she said, texting away.

Ian dropped down beside her, and looked over her shoulder. "Waffles?" he asked hopefully.

Steph feigned exasperation. "I'm getting there! Gees, don't get your knickers in a twist, Ben needs to know I didn't die of blob attack in the night, then we can eat."

Gerald shook his head, and went to the stairs. "You and blobs, I don't know…"

There was a short pause, before Ian said in a small voice, "But I _hate_ blobs."

---

**OMFG once I start I just cannot stop! Okay, that's it from me until the weekend, I actually need to sleep and work at some point, and sleep looks very attractive right about now.**

**I duno, I think my dramatic devices are lacking…what do you think??? Virtual cookie of your choice to all who review! ;)**

**xxx**


	23. Good Copy, Bad Copy

**AN: Howday folks! :D Woooooooooo 13 reviews for the last chapter! It made my day, it really did :) it put me in such a good mood I was smiling when I walked into my practical exam, I was seriously smiling over an EXAM, because you people are so awesome ;)**

**This chapter is.....kinda bitty, if I'm honest. Someone's asked if we can see a Gwevin kiss soon, and I was hoping to spread the contents of this chapter over a few more, but I got bored and threw them all together. This is a bit of a filler, so if you find it lacking from my normal level of performance, my edited version of Save The Last Dance will more than make up for it, (fingers crossed and hoe for the best!)**

**In the mean time, bon appitite! (can't speak/spell in French to save my life..........but I CAN swear in Croatian :D I just can't spell in it either :( can do the accent and everything though, cause I was taught by the locals. the only way to learn! :D and I'm rambling again.......)**

_**Good Copy, Bad Copy**_

Steph was playing Super Smash Brothers with Tom and Dylan in the attic, lying flat on her back on the floor and her legs up against the sofa, playing upside down. It wouldn't be good for her stomach, since they had eaten about ten minutes before, but she didn't care. Still, playing in this position was straining her eyes a lot, but she wanted to prove Dylan that she could do it, so there she was, tying to crane her neck to see the screen, and probably damaging her spine.

Ian was sitting on the sofa, reading a book quietly to himself as Dylan and Steph swore at each other. They were playing slow-mo before a lighting round, and Steph just knew she would go flying off the screen. It was hard enough trying to work back to front without the speed changing so that she would take an unscheduled flying lesson into oblivion.

"What the hell Tom?!" Dylan demanded as he took a long walk off a short pier – quite literally, due to the mallet in his brother's hands.

"Hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer…" Tom sang under his breath.

"Ah!" Steph did a fall and twisting death spiral off the screen as the hammer smashed into her character. "Damn you!"

"Game!"

"It's official," Tom said, leaning back and stretching his arms above his head. "You both suck. Like hell. Hahaha."

"Well, screw you," Dylan sulked and stormed off to get a drink.

Steph and Tom exchanged looks, before yelling, "Random!" and grabbing their controllers again.

They ended up in Dreamland, and the two of them laughed so hard that the match started and they didn't go in for the kill. Ian looked bemused, as he so often did, and asked, "What's so funny?"

"We played this at school in the orchestra," Steph said, pointing at the screen, and they started miming their instruments with great gusto.

"We should probably play before the tree blows us away," Tom pointed out.

"Yeah," Steph grabbed her controller and actually looked at her character. Young Link. Excellent. "Lon Lon Milk!" she taunted, then ran forward at the speed of light – straight off the edge of Dreamland and into the gulf below. "Damnit!"

"Sorry," Tom said lightly, "but you _did_ sort of walk into that one."

"Off it, you mean," Ian said, intrigued as he always in whatever Steph and Mel did.

"Whatever direction in time and space, that was an epic way to go," Tom consoled her.

Steph snarled to herself and went in head first with the first capsule she could get her mitts on. "HAMMER!" she cried gleefully, and Tom went flying.

"To be fair," he said thoughtfully as Steph cackled, "I sort of did have that coming to me."

Gerald came into the room. "Kevin's on the phone,"

Steph paused and ran to get it. Tom laughed at whatever it was there characters were doing in the free frame, and she heard her Dad laughing as well.

"Sup!?" Steph said brightly.

"_Ben's just taken off as Bigchill and headed don't know where,_" came the response.

"'Kay…" Steph considered for a moment. "I'll follow your signal and see if I can find Ben,"

"_Hurry!_" Kevin practically yelled down the phone.

"Gotta run!" Steph threw the phone back into Gerald's hands and ran to the skylight. She pushed it open, turned round, and said, "Adios!" before climbing up onto the roof and grabbing her badge.

According to the GPS, they were…due south, about five miles. Okay, that would be easy enough to find; they were heading westward, and by the time she reached them they would have gain a couple of miles.

Provided Kevin was obeying the speed limit. Which was never.

Steph dove off the roof.

---

Michelle sighed as she watched her youngest daughter dive off the roof and fly away into the night sky.

"I do wish she wouldn't do that."

"Why not?" Ian seemed unable to understand just how upsetting it was.

"Not many mother's like watching their children jump off buildings." She sniffed.

"Steph can handle herself just fine," Gerald said soothingly.

Michelle glared at Ian. "I blame you for this,"

Ian looked shocked; his eyes went wide the same way Steph's did when she was caught off guard. "Me?"

Dylan laughed loudly. "It's the done thing in this household; you blame the person that wasn't there to defend themselves." He looked the man up and down. "You've had several years away, which means there's a lot of blaming to be had."

Something came flying through the air and hit him in the side of the head. Tom floated by serenely, effecting Mel's demeanour.

"Plumbers who fight intergalactic wars are not legitimate targets. Douche bag's who target them _are_."

---

So basically, some Galvan who looked like Ben but wasn't was running around trying to do them in, and they had to stop him.

Was it too much to ask for, for just _one_ mission that wasn't so random?

Gwen slid to a stop, crashing into Steph as they halted in the warehouse factory. "Now what?" she demanded.

"Split up," Ben said, reaching automatically for omnitrix.

"How will we know which is the real Ben?" Why didn't they ever stop and think ahead?! Stupid boys…

"Hey, look," Steph pointed at a table nearby.

Kevin scooped up the pen there, and removed the lid. Steph grabbed Ben from behind, and he protested. "Hey! Let me go!" Kevin swiped the pen twice across his cheek to make an 'X' shape, smiling at his work.

"We'll call you Ben X."

He glared at them.

"X," Steph said as they readied themselves to split up. "The Roman Numeral for ten."

"Also the mathematical symbol for an unknown quantity." Kevin added.

"Kevin! I didn't know you paid attention in math," Gwen was beside herself with surprise, and pleasure. Maybe he wasn't a lost cause education wise after all!

"When you say unknown," Steph said slowly, frowning thoughtfully, stroking an imaginary goatee, "do you mean species or brain cells?"

If looks could kill, the glare Ben was giving them should have burned them into charcoal. Steph and Kevin roared with laughter, and had to hang onto each other for support.

"X marks the spot!" Steph poked Ben hard where the mark was, and he slapped her hand away, growling.

He spat onto his hand and rubbed away furiously until the black stain on his skin was gone, leaving it a raw pink instead. Steph spun round and started off down an aisle of shelves, and Ben reluctantly followed. Kevin and Gwen went down another, and she looked up at him with narrowed eyes. It took him a moment to notice, before he looked down at her and said, "What now?"

She sighed and shook her head. "And I thought we had made a break through with your school work." She said disparingly.

Kevin grinned at her, making her heart skip a beat. "But Gwen, what else does X do except just sit there? Anyway, finding X is only useful if you're a pirate,"

That had to be one of the first times that Gwen was well and truly stuck for a witty come back.

---

"It's next week, and I haven't got anything to wear!" Gwen panicked, searching through the racks of dresses, very nearly hysterical.

"Calm down," Julie said soothingly, serenely pulling dresses off the rack and inspecting them. "You'll get a ulcer," she warned when Gwen was about to start tearing her hair out. "Trust me, I got so worked up about a game once that in the end I couldn't play because I started coughing up blood. It's not fun, I can tell you,"

Gwen stopped, and took a very deep breath, holding it in and clenching his muscles tightly, before letting everything – breath, tension and all, go. After that she felt a bit better, and took the dresses Julie offered her and went to the dressing rooms. They were

All nice in their selves, but something was not quite right; the colour was off, the patterns didn't quite match, the bust or waist didn't fit, there was something not quite right about the neck line…The only one she could find that fitted perfectly was a slutty looking black and red lacy dress that her father would kill her for wearing. Julie looked horrified when Gwen came out, grimacing at the black lace.

"It didn't look that horrible on the hanger," she said in a small voice.

"It's okay, really," Gwen sighed.

They went through practically every dress in the shop, and still nothing. The Spring Formal was next week, and Gwen had so wanted to go, and somehow she had to find the perfect dress, _and_ ask Kevin to take her, so far neither part of the plan was succeeding. "We'll find something," Julie said stoically, and Gwen just nodded gloomily.

After a tiny black and pink spotted number that showed off too much thigh and breast, Gwen was about to give up, when she spotted a snooty girl from her school handing a load of dresses to the assistant standing by the dressing rooms. "None of these fit, and that one looks ghastly," she sniffed, turning round to go back to the dress rack. She saw Gwen, and her eyes lit up maliciously. "Well, well, _Gwendolyn_,"

"Layla," Gwen said stiffly.

"Looking for dresses, are you?" she drawled.

_No, I'm here to build a nuclear reactor with sequins and zips_. "Yes."

Layla tossed her long, flowing blonde hair that was so obviously highlighted, and smirked malevolently. "Well, this is hardly the right shop for Prom dresses, is it? I'm only in here to prove that point to my mother. There she is, I have to go now," she swanned over to the exit, throwing a careless farewell over her shoulder. "See you at the dance!"

"Gwen?" Julie asked nervously. "You look like you're going to grind your teeth to dust.

Gwen tried to unclamp her jaw. "She's such a bitch," she hissed under her breath.

"She's not worth it," Julie tugged her back over to the rack. "Let's have one more look, then we can try that place on Main Street,"

The assistant pulled the rejects on a frame back to the dress section, and put them on the rack again. That was when she saw it; a simple, plain, white dress without shoulders or straps, and she dived for it. The assistant look astonished as she snatched it up, and spun round to find Julie.

"Look!"

"What is it?"

It was the dress she had considered buying that time she and Steph had gone shopping for that dinner her father was having. She couldn't believe it was still here! And Layla didn't like it? Even better! "What do you think? I saw this here a while ago, last time I came with Steph,"

"Wow!" Julie let the soft fabric slip over her fingers. "It's beautiful!"

"That's quite a pretty dress you have there," she assistant smiled at them. "Do you want to go try it on?"

"Go on," Julie pushed her to the doors. "Just check it fits,"

Gwen did as she was told, and nearly sang for joy when she found it still fitted perfectly. Maybe even better than before; she had gone through a growth spurt over the last few weeks, and somehow it seemed even more perfect than before. Checking the price tag, she actually laughed aloud when she saw the price. $95 reduced to $40, reduced to $25. Bargain if ever she saw one!

"Wow!" Julie gasped as Gwen swept from the cubicle, giggling like a five year old. "You look amazing!"

"Thanks!" she felt giddy already.

"I have some eye shadow that would look great with that dress," Julie chatted away. "You'll look stunning!"

Gwen hurried to get changed again and they practically ran to pay for the dress, before hurrying away to the next shop on their list for make up. Phase on of the plan was complete, and Gwen felt it had been a good day all round.

Now she just had to figure out how to get Kevin to say yes to a school dance…

---

**Tah Dah! Yes? No? MEH? OMFG THAT WAS RUBBISH!?**

**You know what to do ;) If I get my skates on, I might have something finished by the end of the weekend, if we're very lucky. There's ANOTHER chance of snow on the way (I'M SICK OF IT! I JUST WANT IT TO GO AWAY AND LEAVE ME ALONE! :'( evil snow -_-;; ) so I may get distracted and go rant and rave to everyone I know about it, so bare with me :P**

**Also, my pocket money is being docked until I clear up this pigsty I call a room. I need that money for fish and chips! :S and the new guitar book I want to get. So this is gona take a while..................**

**xxx**


	24. Save The Last Dance

**AN: Howdy, howdy folks! :D I took me all weekend, but I got there eventually! Even thought I bent my fingers back at a training session for karate, and it hurts a lot. I found I can type on handed, but it take forever… but enough about that :P I hope this piece is up to my normal standard, since I seem to be dipping all over the place over the last few updates.**

**Enjoy!**

**_Save The Last Dance_**

It was of those rare days where everyone convened at Kevin's house, instead of Steph's. His mother and Cain were both out working, and Crystal was playing with Kev and the twins at the pier with Mel supervising.

Steph was clanging around in the background, trying to find her lost spanner and muttering darkly to herself. "Bloody, stupid…" many swears words, "thing…"

Ben was using the tiny sink in the room Kevin used as a kitchen; hence the kettle on the side board and the pots labelled 'Tea', 'Coffee', and 'Salt' all containing substances other than the aforementioned label.

Kevin himself was buried under his car, fixing the suspension after the last wild goose chase out into the middle of nowhere and back again over a bumpy, rocky road. He would _never_, as long as he lived, take Ben's short cuts again. _Ever_.

A song was playing through his mind, one they had been singing along too yesterday at the tops of their lungs, so he didn't hear Gwen's demand for attention until she pulled him rudely out from underneath the car, giving him a scare. For one wild moment he thought a DNAlien had got him.

"Argh!" Oh, just Gwen. He blinked at her. "What?"

She pointed at something on the floor next to him, and he picked it up. It looked like a pamphlet or something for a School dance…wait, what? He inspected it closely for a moment, before looking up and saying, "You want me to take you to the Spring Formal?" Was she playing mind games with him or was she actually serious?

"Great, pick me up around seven," she said over her shoulder and left the garage.

Kevin's jaw dropped. That sure sounded like her serious tone, but still…why him?

Steph, oblivious to his distress, stalked out the garage after her. "I give up. It's not here. I'll see you later, I have an errand to run for Gerald." She didn't even bother checking up and down the street, just phased and took off, leaving Kevin, still stunned, on the floor.

As he stood up, Ben came out of the side room holding a toothbrush. "I cannot stress the importance of flossing." He proclaimed in a bored voice.

Throwing caution to the winds, since he was too scared to ask Gwen, and Steph was about as useful as a bag of rocks when it came down to it, Kevin said to Ben, "What do you know about girls?"

---

"I actually cannot believe you," Steph was in shock for the millionth time that month. Finding her long lost father? Yeah, okay, she was cool with that.

Kevin taking someone to a school dance?

As River would say, _Whiskey Tango Foxtrot_.

She said this to Gwen as she blow-dried her hair. Gwen gave her a quizzical look, and Steph sighed.

"It's the phonetic alphabet? Like the Royal Navy uses? It means _WTF_. Or what the f-"

"My mom's downstairs!" Gwen hissed, casting a glance at the bedroom door.

Steph glared at her. "I was _going_ to say before you interrupted me, _ffffffflip_. So, nerr," she stuck her tongue out.

Gwen rolled her eyes and took up her hairbrush. "Whatever…"

"So, how did you do it? Blackmail? Bribery? How many hotdogs would _that_ take?" Even with a calculator for a brain, she would never work out number required. '∞' might be a better symbol for that equation.

"I'm not talking about this to you," Gwen snapped.

"Then why the hell invite me over here and tell me?" Steph demanded, taking a piece of paper from her desk and a pen from the drawer. "You know what I'm like," she added mutinously, stabbing the piece of paper.

Gwen sighed. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"S'aright." Steph aid cheerfully, looking at her handiwork. "Here, I've worked out how many hotdogs it would take,"

_Kevin → school dance = hotdogs x ∞__100000_

Gwen actually laughed.

Steph gasped, and dived for the bed, picking up the white thing that caught her eye. "When did you get this?" she demanded. She remembered this dress from when they had gone shopping together…like, forever ago.

"Last week," Gwen snatched it back. "When I went shopping with Julie and you said you didn't want to go,"

Steph spread her hands in surrender. "I was with my dad! I wasn't gonna leave him with Dylan, yeesh!"

"What about now?" Gwen snapped.

Steph shrugged. "Something like fresher's flu. He's been gone from Earth so long his immune system can't fight of the bugs and stuff, so he's sleeping it off at the moment." He had fallen asleep on the couch in the attic after another rousing round of Monty Python, and she hadn't felt too guilty about leaving him there. "He'll be fine by Monday," she said confidently; the runny nose was already clearing up.

Gwen made a gesture that said 'Meh', and went back to brushing her hair.

"Wonder what Kevin's up to," Steph mused to herself. She laughed, saying, "I bet he's under his car or something. Bloody typical."

"Steph?"

"Yeah?"

"When's your dad going back to Re'ath?"

Steph sat up straight, and stretched her legs out, uncramping the muscles. "When my mum's satisfied he's got more meat on him. That fight we had took a lot out of him, and space travel is the last thing he needs at the moment. If I didn't finish him off, a trip in a space ship might, especially since he's not well at the moment."

Her phone started buzzing, and they both rolled their eyes.

"Ben? Kevin? Dad? Dylan?" Steph wondered allowed. She whipped out the phone and said, "Ben!" she crowed. "How are you, buddy?!"

"_Wanna go smoothie NOW!_" he whined.

"Bye," Steph put the phone down. "I'll be seeing ya round, Gwen." She said, going to the bedroom door. "Good luck tonight!"

"Don't I get a hug?" Gwen sounded scandalized.

Steph looked over her shoulder, grinned, and ran at her, tackling her onto the bed just to piss her off. "Hey!" she lashed out with her manna, and Steph landed on the floor.

"Tee hee!" she sat up and sprang to her feet. "Love ya babes!" she said for dramatic effect, and dodged the book Gwen aimed at her. "I'm gone," she dived out the door, still laughing.

---

Ben opened the front door and Steph strolled in. "Sup?" she asked, taking a pickle from his jar and eating it in one go.

"My pickle!" Ben slammed the door shut.

"Smoothie crisis?"

"Nah. Kevin here, by the way."

Steph's eyes glittered with humour. "Oh, _Kevin_!" she sang, dancing to Ben's bedroom door.

Ben followed behind her, happily munching on a pickle. He counted to five in his head, and when he got to one he heard Steph scream. He laughed as he pushed the door open, and saw Steph sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at Kevin in horror. Ben tried to look natural as he went to change the radio station. He couldn't help but snigger as he saw the look on her face.

"Why?" she asked weakly, all wide eyed and staring.

"What?" Kevin snapped, looking angry.

"Where are the oil stains?" Steph said, standing up. "The raggedy old shirts?" she grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him forward so their faces were mere inches apart, still aghast at the vision before her. "_The Bad Boy attitude!_" she hissed under her breath.

"I think Kevin looks pretty good," Ben commented.

Kevin tried to punch her, and she fell back dramatically onto the bed. "Bloody hell, Kevin," she frowned. "What's with the monkey suit? I know you, and this ain't normal behaviour."

"Loads of people where suits," Ben said patiently. "How is that abnormal?"

"As far as generalising behaviour to individuals goes, that is abnormal for him," Steph pointed out. "What's the occasion?"

Ben slapped his forehead. Was she acting up, or actually that clueless? "The Spring Formal?"

"Oh!" It suddenly clicked. "I remember now! Sorry, I was thinking about something else, I forgot what Gwen was going on about earlier."

Kevin had always been fair skinned, but Ben was sure he had never been quite _that_ pale before. He sank onto the bed beside Steph, looking quite sick.

"Shit, Kevin," Steph said conversationally. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Why does she want to go with me anyway?" Kevin lamented.

"Cause we're the cool crowd!" Steph sprang up and gave Ben a high five. "Gimme a pickle,"

"Sorry, cool kids only," Ben tried to hold the jar away from her.

"C'mon! Just one pickle," she insisted.

"No, they're mine!" Ben retreated across the room, trying and failing to ward her off. "I need to energy!"

"So do I! You think its easy maintaining such a high internal body temperature?"

"Tell you what," Ben was concerned he was about to loose his precious pickles. "I think there's another jar in the refrigerator. You can have it if you find it,"

"Shot gun!" Steph bounced out of the room.

Ben grinned. "That always works." He turned to look at Kevin, who was trying to put his tie on.

"Aren't these things supposed to come with clips?"

Ben shook his head condescendingly. "Not if you're older than twelve."

Kevin managed to make a Gordian knot before announcing, "Finger's caught,"

Ben went through the motions, showing him how to do up a tie properly. Steph came back in with another pickle jar, and grinned widely. "Life is good, I have pickles."

"This is never gonna work," Kevin sighed. "I'm not like all those preppy guys from Gwen's school."

Steph shrugged dramatically.

"Because she doesn't want to go with any of those guys, she wants to go with you," Ben pointed out, taking advantage of Steph's lack of attention to steal her pickles.

"Now, if I were in your position," Steph wiped the corner of her mouth on her wrist, "I'd be very flattered. She never goes to those dances as rule, she likes to be boring and stay home and study," she suppressed a burp. "And associated crap."

"Burp like a man," Kevin dared her, demonstrating.

"Oh, I was just trying to be polite, but if you insist," Steph paused for a moment, motioning with her hands like a conductor before the philharmonic. They started having a burping competition, and Ben tried not to laugh. "I need more pickle juice," she turned for the jar.

Ben moved at the speed of light, and downed the juice from both jars, managing to get a small pickle in his mouth at the same time.

Steph's earlier expression of horror she had given Kevin, was now directed at him instead. "How do you bloody do that?" she asked weakly. "I feel so small and insignificant when I stand next to you!"

"But can he do this?" Kevin burped his ABCs.

"Yeah? But can you do it in Japanese?" Steph challenged.

Ben couldn't believe his ears. They had been making such headway as a team, and then those two went and ruined it all. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, dragging her to the door and kicking her out. "Stop encouraging him," He reached for the empty pickles jars, before a thought struck him. "Gwen likes yellow roses," he told Kevin. "Get her a nice corsage," he suggested.

"Bloody hell," she stared at him blankly as they went to the kitchen.

"What is it?" What could he possibly have done _this_ time to worry her?

"You're acting very…" she followed him to the refrigerator. "Motherly," she finally finished.

"Huh? I gave Kevin advice, that's all," was that such a bad thing? They weren't trying to kill each other anymore, wasn't that good enough for Steph? She tried to kill him every other hour, for crying out loud!

"Yeah, kinda scarily accurate advice," Steph made a show of sliding away from him, punctuated with dramatic pauses, and making sure the last part of her that disappeared around the front door was her mockingly terrified expression.

"Whatever," Ben rolled his eyes. He went to hunt down some more pickles, when another thought struck him.

"Julie!"

Crap! How could he forget?!

He ran to get his keys.

---

Kevin pulled up outside Gwen's house, and was about to get out when his phone started buzzing.

'_good luck kev!!! xxx'_

He would actually strangle Steph if she had jinxed him. Okay, deep breaths…yeah, he was officially insane now.

He made it out of the car and to the front door before his nerves almost failed him. Closing his eyes, Kevin rapped his knuckles against the door and tried steadied his breathing. "It's just a dance, right? Nothing to worry about…" Why was he talking to himself out loud? Oh well. "I look pretty good," oh, I forgot to brush his teeth! Idiot…

A quick glance left and right to make sure he wasn't being watched, and Kevin checked his breath. "Eugh. Should've brought some gum…" He had seen Steph only two hours ago, and she always had some sort of gum, or something…

Before he could get too wrapped up in his gloomy thoughts of what may have been, the door opened, and his jaw hit the ground.

Gwen stood there, in a simple, plain white dress without sleeves or straps, her sleek red hair hanging down her back, and just the faintest touch of makeup to her face. She smiled at his stunned expression.

"Wow," was all he could say. His mind was disconnected form his mouth; all that was going through his head was, _she's so pretty, gorgeous, stunning, beautiful_…

He was such a sap.

"Likewise,"

Wait, that meant she was impressed, right?

"Here," he thrust out the box in his hands to her before he forgot. "I got this for you," he was quite proud of himself for remembering the name of it. "It's a corsage."

Gwen's expression lit up and she said, "It's beautiful, thank you Kevin!"

He couldn't hide his relief as his smiled back at her. The he became hyper aware that someone else was coming to the door, and hoped to god (not that he believed in him…) that it wasn't her father.

"Have fun Gwen!" It was only her brother. "I'm going to the movies later, don't forget your house key,"

"Got it," she waved her purse over her shoulder. "Let's go!" she hissed, grabbing his hand and running out the door.

Maybe it was too much to hope for that she was eager to spend time with him, rather than she wanted to run away from her older brother, but Kevin tried to focus on the positive. This was the first social event he'd been too without high levels of sugar since…like, forever! Everything he did these days involved Steph, Ben, sugar, and something meaninglessly random that made them all laugh like idiots. Why couldn't school dances be like that? He'd go to them more often if that was the case.

Kevin got the door for her, and walked to the other side to the drivers seat. That was actually quite a long walk from one side of the car to the other; Gwen must be dieing of boredom by now.

It wasn't until they were well on their way to her school that he remembered to give her the flowers. He hoped to God Ben hadn't been pulling his leg when he had told him, but Gwen's expression confirmed he had been telling the truth.

"Yellow roses…how did you know?" That sounded insultingly surprised.

He teased her, saying, "I'm a sensitive guy with and eye for what the ladies like,"

He didn't think she would actually believe him.

"Really?" she sounded intrigued.

And then his nerve failed him. Why couldn't he lie to her face the same way Steph could? "Actually, no. Ben told me," he confessed. Something about her expression made it clear she was not upset or angry or anything, so he went on, "But he was really cool about it. Gave me a lot of good advice."

"Good advice? Ben?" she laughed.

Was that so hard to believe, really? He wasn't _that_ bad, once you got to know him…not that they were firm friends or anything, just co-workers.

"Yeah," he came to Ben's defence. "He tied my tie for me,"

Gwen's expression became sceptical. "Ben." She said disbelievingly. "Gave you dating tips, _and_ helped you tie you tie?"

"It could happen!" he pulled into the parking lot and parked in the first space he came to. He was nervous again as he killed the engine and ran around to the other side of the car to get her door. She murmured something to herself, but he didn't quite hear it.

He opened her door, and struck a pose, affecting an accent, saying, "Let's dance!"

She sat there with her arms folded, staring straight ahead, and his heart stopped beating.

"We can't go in there."

_What!?_ His heart raced at a hundred and eleven miles an hour.

"But I learned the proper forks and everything!" He'd actually gone to his mother for help on this matter! "Outside to inside, right? Or was that little to big…" aw crap. "Oh man!"

"That's not the problem, Kevin," Gwen began, but his emotions got the better of him.

"I knew it!" he slammed his fist onto the hood of his car. "You're embarrassed to go with me." He knew it had been too good to be true that she wanted to go with someone like him.

"No! It's just, I think Ben might be in some kind of trouble,"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What makes you say that?"

Gwen's cell started ringing, and she picked it up.

"_Bigchill's on the rampage_," Julie said on the loud speaker.

"Where are you?" Gwen asked.

Kevin ran back to his side of the car.

Trust Tennyson to screw everything up…

---

Gwen should have been annoyed about missing the dance, but she was too worried about Ben at the moment to even contemplate it. She fretted over the possibilities of Bigchill doing a Ghostfreak on them, but Kevin reassured her. "Whatever, we'll save him either way, alright?" His offhand manner was actually soothing. He would have put more bravado into his words if he had been as worried as her. That was comforting to know; if he was confident they could sort this mess out, then she felt confident too.

She had called Steph, and she was on her way now; Gwen watched the red circle of Ben's omnitrix creep closer, and the pulsing red dot of Steph zoom towards them. Kevin stopped the car and they both got out; Julie was already there, and as they convened at the edge of a creator, Steph landed beside them.

"What now?" she asked in a bored voice. "I was kicking Dylan's arse when you called."

They looked down at Bigchill, standing on a mountain of metal.

"Well that looks plain evil." Kevin said bluntly.

"Ben!" Gwen ran forward, followed by Julie.

Steph beat her wings and took to the air, circling above them. Gwen regretted wearing heels as she picked her way over the uneven ground.

"It's your friends," Julie said gently. "We're hear to help,"

Steph, still circling, made that cooing noise at the back of her throat, trying to placate him. Bigchill stood up and spat at them, "Go away!"

Gwen jumped as Kevin slid down the slope and skidded to a halt beside her. "Too much negotiating," he grabbed a nearby block of metal and absorbed it. "I'm gonna smash some sense back into him," and he was gone, bowling head first into it without thinking.

"Men!" Gwen hissed under her breath. "Why can't they ever learn to stop and think!?"

Julie laughed. "Because they're men?" she suggested.

Kevin ran head first at Ben, and was promptly knocked off his feet. Gwen sighed again. Where had she seen _that_ before? And then Bigchill started trying to eat his arm, which distressed her.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Cut it out!" Kevin managed to get hold of a rock and absorb that instead, which made Ben let go, spitting rock dust. Kevin slunk away before surveying the damage. "Dude! I _borrowed_ this suit!"

Typical…

Steph swung down and pecked at his eyes, but got thrown to one side. Gwen aimed at the metal mound, but he rushed up to protect it. That…thing had to be the reason he was acting this way. Julie tried and failed to get through to him, and when Bigchill flew at them, Gwen threw up a pink manna bubble around him. Steph landed and shook her head from side to side.

"Go," Gwen urged Julie.

She nodded, and ran to the mound. Bigchill let out a strangled cry, "No, stay away from there!" He managed to force himself through the barrier and towards Julie.

Gwen hurled missile after missile at him until one clipped him in the back of the head, knocking him off balance, and Steph piled-drived him into the ground before he could make himself intangible. "You hurt him!" Julie fretted.

"Not for long," Kevin muttered darkly. "I've seen him take worse."

Steph snapped her beak. "Hurry up, I can't keep him pinned down for long!"

"Whatever's wrong with him, it has to do with that _thing_," Gwen pointed at the mound.

Kevin grabbed a piece of the metal and said, "So let's take it down!" he climbed up to the top, and pounded his fist into it. Gwen and Julie climbed up after him, and Gwen recoiled from the green slime that splattered everywhere. "Nice," he said, playing Mr Cynical again. "Goo all over my tux." Gwen was even more alarmed when it started to bubble like boiling water. "Aww! _Maggot _goo all over my tux!" he complained.

Opaque blue bubbles started to float up, and Gwen drew closer to him, not sure what was happening. Then, on of them started to morph, until it became what looked like a baby butterfly with a small popping sound.

"Aww!" Gwen and Julie cooed. It was so cute!

She could just feel Kevin rolling his eyes beside her. "You've _got_ to be kidding me."

It flew over to Bigchill, and Steph took off, landing beside them. "What the _smeg_." She said in her toneless, disbelieving voice.

Suddenly, all the bubbles started morphing, and Gwen watched Kevin and Steph's heads snap back and forth, watching them all like they were bombs. One, tiny little bubble morphed right net to Julie, and looked at her before joining the others around Bigchill. Steph managed to raise an eyebrow so high it was lost under the longer feathers in the crest on top of her head. "Am I dreaming or did Ben just give birth?"

"I'm scarred for life," Kevin moaned.

Gwen elbowed him in the stomach.

"What?!" he practically shrieked at her. "You always beat me up!"

She fought back a laugh. "C'mon,"

They all slid down the slope towards Bigchill, who was watching his little brood fly away into the night sky.

"Okay," Kevin regained his composure. "That was weird."

Bigchill dissolved into a green blur, and Ben turned to them, looking very dizzy. "What…just happened?"

Gwen and Kevin exchanged looks, Steph started preening her feathers, and Julie pulled out a notebook, flipping through the pages before chucking it over her shoulder. "You may want to sit down for this,"

Once he was seated on a rock by the car, Kevin took out one of his gadgets and reeled off the information about Bigchill's race. He finished with a smirk, saying, "Doubt you'll ever see the again." He leant forward and added, "Mommy,"

"Cut it out!" Ben snapped.

"Should have figured it out from you pickle cravings," Kevin said snidely. Steph laughed, feathers quivering as she tried to suppress it.

Gwen put a hand on Kevin's shoulder, adding, "And from Ben given you good advice."

"Hey!" Ben stood up. "I can give good advice! What about the time I-?" He stopped to think. "I-err…"

"It could happen," Kevin smirked at Gwen. His expression said something along the lines of _I told you so!_

Julie checked her watch, and started up her headlights. "If you want a ride home, you'd better hop on. My curfew was half an hour ago."

Ben slunk over to her and grabbed the extra helmet. He put it on and wrapped his arms around her waist, looking forlorn. "This is the most embarrassing…" he groaned.

Julie smiled at him. "I think you made a great mommy," she said kindly. They sped off home, hoping not to get grounded for being out so late.

Steph rolled her eyes dramatically. "I was baby sitting, mum's gonna kill me for taking off like that. I'll see you tomorrow," and she took off in one motion, becoming a faint yellow dot in the sky before disappearing altogether.

Now that everything was hunky-dory, Gwen could feel depressed. She sighed heavily, and leant against the hood of Kevin's car, saying, "Tonight didn't turn out to be such a good night after all. We missed the dance…"

She had so wanted to go with Kevin, even if he was inept when it came to social events, and had to go to Ben for advice. That's why she liked him so much, because he was always the same Kevin that made her laugh when she wanted to cry, took her out for hotdogs when she wanted to curl up in a corner and sulk… Couldn't Ben have chosen to do this some other night?

She heard something click, and then music started to play. Gwen looked up, and saw Kevin had his smirk in place, but there was a new kind of confidence there; he held a hand out to her, and her heart skipped a beat. She smirked back, thinking he would back out when she took his hand, feeling the rough, warm skin against her own. He surprised her by leading the way to a patch of mostly even ground, and putting his hands on her waist. She should have known that he would not know how to waltz, but they still danced all they same.

How cliché, in the moonlight, after a battle, dancing in the arms of an ex-criminal, and staring deeply into his eyes.

Cheesy.

Corny.

And she couldn't find it in her to even try to care.

Even in the darkness, illuminated only by the full moon and the car headlights, she could still see the myriad of earthy tones in his eyes, and she bypassed the code of politeness and kept on gazing at him. It wasn't just her, Kevin was doing it to, and he was smiling.

Not his trademark smirk, but and actual, honest to God smile.

Gwen wondered whether there had been something in her drink before she left home, because she felt high, like her spirit was soaring. She felt sad when she realised it was time for her to go home, before her father sent the military after her to ascertain why she hadn't been at the school dance, like she said he would.

---

It was a quiet ride back to her house, and Kevin lamented the fact that he was going to have to say goodnight soon. He had worried that he was creeping her out when he didn't let his gaze deviate from her eyes, but she had been just as content as him, and he was positive she didn't think he was a stalker. It was just that…her eyes had that effect on him; they drew his attention like nothing else, and he gave her his full attention, and getting the same in return.

He pulled up outside her house, and got out, taking his time to get to her door, using any means he had to prolong his time with her. He pushed his luck by taking her hand in his again, and was pleased when she gave him an affectionate squeeze in return.

The big question was: to kiss, or not to kiss?

Was it pretentious to kiss on the first date? Suddenly, he wished he'd paid attention to all those soppy chick flicks he'd been forced to watch at school. Would Gwen want to be kissed, when her dad might see them and kill him on the spot? Was he pushing boundaries? Would she slap him? Would he be rejected? Was she just being easy on him because she didn't want to hurt his feelings?

At the door, Gwen turned to him, still holding his hand. "Kevin, I had a great time tonight," she said smiling. "After Ben managed to screw everything up, I mean."

He chuckled to himself. "He always manages to do that."

"Just," she frowned suddenly. "I don't understand something,"

Oh God, oh God! What was it? Had he sent the wrong signal? Made her uncomfortable? Been an idiot for forgetting the gum? What!?

"How did you know what the goo was?"

"Huh?" Random much?

"You said it was maggot goo. How did you know that?"

"Oh," a memory rose to the forefront of his mind, and he pushed it away with a shudder. "You learn a lot of disturbing biology facts in the Null Void." He said darkly. "You don't want to know." He added when she frowned again. Before he knew it, Kevin had raised his free hand and smoothed the frown line away with his thumb. He with drew his hand once his mind caught up with his body, and contemplated running away. But she still had his hand in hers, and he couldn't bring himself to leave.

"I think I'm traumatised enough for one night," she laughed breathlessly. "After watching Ben give birth and all,"

They both laughed, and Kevin shook his head, unable to stop himself.

He stopped dead in his tracks when she suddenly leaned in closer.

Gwen caught him in the act of shaking his head, catching the corner of his mouth with her lips. His heart stuttered, before running a hundred-metre sprint, and tripping over itself at the finish line when she pulled back and said, "Good night," and slipped inside through the door.

Would it be too cheesy if he promised himself to never wash his lips again? Then again, maybe she had been aiming away from a full on kiss because he had forgotten the gum…

Kevin managed to get back to his car and drive home without crashing into anything, or causing an accident, but once he got undressed and into bed, he found he couldn't sleep. He rummaged through the drawers of his desk, looking for something.

He found pencils, erasers, a sharpener, and his missing plectrum. He sat cross-legged on his bed, and found what he had been looking for: a few sheets of unused musical manuscript paper.

Sad, corny, sappy, insane, deranged…

Sod the lot! – As Steph would say.

---

Frank Tennyson took a sip of tea and pulled out his newspaper. Ken was typing up a dissertation on his laptop for college, and Lily was cooking omelettes in the kitchen. Gwen was taking her sweet time getting up today, although she had got home quite late last night from her school dance and shut herself up in her room.

He jumped when she came dancing down the stairs, humming to herself, soaking red hair flying in every direction. "You're in a good mood today," he noted.

She smiled at him, and went to switch the radio on, which came right in the middle of one of those new songs all the girls her age were into.

"…Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter," Gwen carried on singing the tune she had just been humming. "And my daddy said stay away from Juliet, but you were everything to me, I was begging you please don't go,"

"Hey you," Kevin said fondly, looking up from his work.

Gwen swooped down on him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, before she grabbed a slice of toast. "…All that's left to do is run, you'll be the prince, and I'll be the princess," she got a glass of milk and downed it in one in between the words. "Baby just say yes!"

The phone rang, and she danced over to get it. "Hello? Hey Steph. Yeah, sure! I'll be right over." She put the phone down. "Mom?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"I'm going to Mr Smoothies!" and with that, she flounced out the front door.

"Someone's cheerful," Ken said sarcastically, going back to his dissertation. "And turn that radio off. I hate country music."

"I like this song," Lily argued back.

Ken ignored her and stuck his headphones in instead.

Surreptitiously, Frank excused himself from the table and went upstairs. He pushed the door to Gwen's room open, and inspected it. She was far too happy than the occasion called for, and he was going to get to the bottom of this.

Gwen's desk was littered with spell books, textbooks, papers, and a picture frame with her and Ben when they were much younger. Her bedside table, however, was another matter; there was a box with a flowered corsage in it, and a heavy vase Ken had made for her last birthday with the pottery society at college. The vase was full of yellow roses.

Had she gone out and bought them? Or had someone bought them for her?

He frowned at the piece of paper tucked in behind it, unfolding and spreading it out to see what was on there. It was a rough sketch of Gwen that someone had drawn. The first one that went through Frank's mind was _stalker_, but he could find no concrete evidence that she was in danger.

And then he saw the corner of a purple book poking out from underneath Gwen's pillow, and he reached for it.

"Don't."

He turned and looked up to see his wife in the doorway.

"Even. Think about it." She narrowed her eyes.

"Just curious," he said, replacing the sketch and the book. "As to why our daughter has her head in the clouds today."

Lily sighed. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Enlighten me, then." He said politely.

She sighed, came in, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him from the room. "Gwen's in love." She said softly.

"So, the lucky boy is?" he asked sarcastically.

"It's that boy she hangs out with, with Ben and Steph. He was here when your mother," she sniffed at the memory, "came by. Kevin, I think his name was."

Down stairs, he went to look for his old, decommissioned shotgun, before following her into the kitchen, cocking the barrel and stating dramatically, "Date my daughter, will he?"

She gave him a withering look.

"He should consider himself duly warned." Frank smiled brightly at her.

"You'll be sleeping in the dog house." She told him sweetly, going back to her cooking.

---

**Blargh dragged a bit, but I'm quite pleased at how this came out :D and it's late. Again. So I'll call it a day (night…thing…whatever your time zone happens to be) and I'll see what I can pull together over next week (if the biology blobs don't get me first! Seriously, I spent two friggin' hours looking down some stupid microscope for cells in various stages of mitosis and all I saw was one blob with a darker blob in the middle, and two blobs stuck to each other with a little squiggle in the middle. THEY CALL THAT A PRACTICAL EXAM?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!??!?! practically a waste of time if you ask me.)**

**And don't forget to drop me your thoughts! :P I'm toying with the idea of going straight to War of The Worlds or going off and doing some random stuff first.**

**xxx**


	25. Experience

**AN: Was off school today, ill. :( on the plus side, however, I wrote this! :)**

**Please enjoy! (or not, as the case maybe…) and read the footnote at the end! ;)**

**_Experience_**

Gwen was in high spirits as she danced into the workshop.

Ben raised an eyebrow at her; still miffed that they were all so shocked at how he had given 'good advice'. That was so last week's news! Couldn't they just move on with their lives?

"Where are Steph and Kevin?" she asked, switching the radio on.

"Late," Ben growled to himself. "They should have been here by now."

She seemed unconcerned, and started singing along to the radio. Ben stuck his head underneath a magazine and tried to tune her out. "Hey, Gwen?"

"Hmm?" she trailed off the note she had been singing.

"How come you've been all smiles and singing for the last week?" he pulled himself out from beneath the mag and fixed her with his 'I-know-you're-hiding-something-from-me-and-I'll-drag-it-out-of-you-so-help-me' look.

She went very quiet, and the radio mellowed out as well in the silence.

"It hasn't been a week…" she said evasively.

"Alright," Ben agreed. "Four days. Spill,"

Gwen looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights. She jumped when Steph came running in and hid beneath Kevin's car. He bowled in and dived after her, but she'd already scrambled out the other side and ran to the opposite side of the workshop. "You'll never take me alive!" she shrieked.

"I'm counting on it!" he tackled her to the ground.

"Shit!" she tried to worm her way out of his grasp, but he pinned her arms to the floor. "Let me go!"

"Give it back!"

"Never!" she tried to kick him off, and managed to catch the back of his head with the heel of her boot, and she ran like a bat out of hell from the workshop.

"Do I _want_ to know?" Ben asked in a bored voice.

Kevin had been in high spirits as well, for the last week…four days…whatever. And when Kevin was happy, Steph was ecstatic, and when that happened, all hell broke loose. Like it was doing now.

"She started it!" Kevin pointed after her.

Suddenly Steph zoomed in out of nowhere and bowled him over, poking him hard in the chest. "You lying son of a-!"

He punched her in the gut, and she fell over sideways. "Argh! Give it back already!

"You bitch!" She said weakly, nursing her bruised stomach. "I thought you liked me," her lower lip trembled pitifully, and Ben let his forehead hit the table with a loud thud. "I thought I was your mechanic buddy!"

"It's over! Now give it back!" Kevin snarled.

"Well screw you!" Steph sprang to her feet and legged it, Kevin not far behind.

"Wanna go smoothie?" Ben asked hopefully.

It seemed even their childish antics had not dented her happiness, and Gwen agreed to go with him. They walked in comfortable silence to Mr Smoothies, and Ben got them some drinks before they sat down at the benches under the shade.

"So," Ben began.

Gwen looked confused. "So…?"

"Spill it." Ben said seriously.

Gwen gulped, and looked away.

"C'mon, I'm your cousin! You can tell me anything," he leant down on the table, craning his neck up to try and catch her gaze. "What happened after Julie and I left."

She shrugged. "Steph flew home." She said with finality.

Ben wasn't buying that. "I'm not gonna laugh, or tell your parents, in fact, if you want me to I'll take it to the grave," he made a show of zipping his lips and throwing the key away.

"We danced," Gwen said slowly, looking at him suspiciously.

"And then…?" Ben motioned with his hand.

"And then he drove me home," she spoke to him like he was mentally deficient, but he wouldn't rise to the bait.

"And then…?"

She went stiff and looked away again.

Ben slammed his fist onto the table top for dramatic effect, hoping to trick the truth out of her. "You're so like Kevin when you do that," he pretended to get angry. "He's such a bad influence on you!"

"He is _not_!" Gwen nearly shouted back, before realising what she had said and clamped her hands over her mouth.

"Ha! Got'cha talking," Ben grinned.

She glared at him, slowly removing her hands and saying in a softer tone, "He's not."

"I know," Ben said unconcernedly, taking another sip of banana, mango, kiwi, avocado and orange smoothie. "But you've so had a crush on him since we started hanging out."

Gwen's expression was hard to read, but something about the way her eyes had creased around the edges looked almost wistful.

"If it's any consolation," he added, "Kevin's been fawning over you since we first went after that DNAlien hive." He laughed at the memory; he had been expecting Kevin to ignore his orders to get the hell out of there before they got blown up, but the moment he had mentioned Gwen, Kevin had turned tail and run for it. With her safely in his arms, but that was neither here nor there.

"He's not very subtle," Gwen mused aloud.

"So, after he danced with you in a crater," Ben couldn't resist teasing her. "All alone, in the moonlight,"

Gwen raised her hand menacingly, and it began to glow pink.

"Kidding!" he said, putting his hand on her elbow and forcing it down. "Anyway, so you danced, and he took you home." He fixed her with a shrewd look. "That's not all, is it?"

"It's nothing to do with you," Gwen glared away from him, still fuming from his earlier jibe.

"Did he kiss you?" Ben asked outright.

He knew something had happened that had made her deliriously happy, and he was sick to death of dancing around her and Kevin's relationship. He wouldn't ask Kevin (he might lose his face if he did), but he had been working on getting Gwen to spill it, because he knew she wouldn't hospitalise him.

"I wish," Gwen growled to herself.

Ben sagged against the table again. Maybe she was actually pissed off underneath those layers of happiness. Then again, it's hard to feign such high spirits; maybe Ben was the one pissing her off here…

"Hey, you were over the moon earlier," Ben told her. "What's up?"

Gwen fixed him with a steely glare. "You promise to _never_ tell anyone?"

"No one," he zipped his lips again. "Double padlock," he took his empty smoothie cup, pretended to drop a key in there and chucked it over his shoulder and listened for the thud that would tell him it had gone into the bin.

"Nice throw," Gwen commented.

"Thanks," he beamed, before getting serious again. "I want answers and I want them _now_." He stared her down, and found himself failing. "Did Kevin Levin kiss you or not?"

She sighed, and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. "Yes and no."

"Huh?" Ben couldn't wrap his mind around this concept. "He either did or he didn't."

"Look," she snapped, getting angry. "I tried to kiss him, but missed, and got-!"

"What?!" Ben couldn't believe his ears. "How can you miss someone like that?"

"He moved his head." She said bluntly.

"Oh. Why would he do that?"

"I don't know!" Gwen stared into her smoothie cup. "I think I scared him. He didn't exactly respond…"

"So if you wish he had and he didn't, what put you in such a good mood?" Ben was still trying to unravel the mystery of how girl's minds worked.

"Because…" she stopped.

"Go on," Ben hedged. "Not that I'm being nosey, but I know you like Kevin in that way, and I want my cousin to be happy." It sounded corny, but it was all true.

"I had fun with him, even if he's scared to admit it. I love hanging out with him," she smiled to herself, and Ben leant against his elbow, smirking at her. "And why are you looking at me like that?" she said suspiciously.

"Kevin and Gwendolyn, sittin' in a tree," Ben began. "K-I-S-S-I-N- OW!" She kicked him in the shin. "I was kidding!"

Gwen slumped in her seat.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He forgot all about his abused shin in the light of her melancholy.

"I don't know," she leant forward on her elbows. "Sometimes I wonder what's going through his mind."

"Don't we all?" Ben had never understood his sudden mood swings. He was like a girl in that sense…

"Well," Gwen paused to gather her thoughts together into one sentence. "I try to get through to him, but most of the time he pushes me away. Saturday night I thought maybe I was getting through that shell he hides in."

"He's a guy," Ben stated simply. "We think the way girls think are messed up too," he added cheerfully. "Anyway," he remember something. "Didn't Steph say something about Mel's crazy psychologist friend? I'm sure she'd be a bigger help than me."

"I surprised you remember that," Gwen snapped.

"I'm surprised I remember my own birthday."

"But…we share the same birthday." Gwen pointed out.

"I know that," Ben grinned. "I'm going to run away screaming now," he jumped up and ran to the low wall on the other side of the parking lot and vaulted over it. "Later Gwen!"

Back at the workshop, Kevin and Steph were still arguing.

"Where's Gwen?" Kevin asked, pushing Steph over and grabbing Ben by the collar of his jacket.

"Went home. Put my down, please,"

Kevin dropped him and demanded, "Why did she go home?"

"You're yelling and screaming probably scared her off," Steph pointed out. "No one likes a jealous, controlling boyfriend."

"Sounds like Edward Cullen." Ben commented.

Kevin surprised them both by shouting, "I'm Not Edward Cullen!"

"No one ever said you were!" Steph shouted back. Then, in a quieter tone, thought still above normal speaking levels, "Anyway, Jacob Black was the control freak."

"Was not," Ben began.

"Was too! Ask Gwen, she knows that book like the back of her hand." Steph followed him to the radio. "Edward just went a little mental every time Bella went out of his sight."

"Try psychotic," Ben muttered. He had read the book after Julie had pressed it on him for the millionth time. It was…okay, he guessed, as far as modern romance-come-fantasy books went. It was still a bit creepy though, how Emmet reminded him of Steph personality wise

"He's not psychotic, that means something _completely _different!" Steph snapped. "Try learning what a term means before you apply it in a conversation, dipshit."

Kevin shrugged before diving under his car again. "Never read it."

"Meh," Steph seemed unconcerned. "I didn't like New Moon, I just wanted to slap Bella and say _get up and do something! Stop moping around like it's the end of the world! You're still alive! Whoopty shit, so Edward left you,_"

"You're such a bitch!" Ben told her. He would never admit to anyone that he had actually cried when Edward had left her in the forest.

"But its true," Steph argued back. "Anyways, Mel's friend agrees with me. She's the psycho nut; _she_ said that she didn't like New Moon cause it was too depressing for her." And then she launched into an explanation of how River had applied her psychobabble learnings to The Twilight Saga.

Ben kicked the tyre of Kevin's car, and rolled out, glaring at him. "What?" he said in a flat tone.

"Wanna go get a smoothie?" he rolled his eyes in Steph' direction. She was banging on about attachment types and defining abnormality.

"Sure," they scarpered before Steph noticed.

When they got their smoothies and sat down to drink them, Kevin sniggered.

"What is it?" Ben was lost.

"That's low, Tennyson. I mean _real_ low."

"Huh?"

"You read Twilight? You got to be kidding me!"

Ben shrugged and gulped down half of his smoothie in one go. "At least I'm a more sensitive guy with a more rounded view of the world than you," he said sweetly.

"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Kevin demanded.

"No, I'm saying you're uncouth." Ben replied.

He looked up to see Kevin frowning at him. "How does that make me rude?"

"What?"

"Uncouth means rude. What you just said makes no sense."

"And how would you know what uncouth means? Since all you ever read is car and driver?" Ben snapped.

Kevin pulled a face. "Because Gwen drilled it into me when she was writing her essay the other day.

Ben couldn't resist winding him up. "Ooooooooh," he sang. "Someone's been paying attention!"

Okay, winding up Kevin may have been a bad idea. Steph could take a hit and heal up within five minutes, but Ben couldn't. He had to dive out of the way as Kevin threw his smoothie at him.

"Kevin!" Ben stared disbelievingly at the bench where he had been sitting, covered in smoothie.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You killed the smoothie!" Ben dipped his fingers into the liquid, before bringing them up to eye level. It slowly dripped down in ever increasingly small droplets. "You monster!" Ben shrieked. "What did that smoothie ever do to you?!"

---

River was drumming her fingers against her desk as she waited for her printing to finish. She sighed, and stared at the ceiling. Gwen had texted her not five minutes ago, and now she was trying to hurry up the printing job so skype didn't crash her computer. She silently cursed her housie for giving her his old computer, knowing full well this would happen and not giving her any help, choosing to swan off to the potholes with his new girl friend.

Once the paper spewed from her printer, she switched it off, and went to load skype. Gwen was waiting for her there, and she rolled her eyes. "Sorry, my printer had a spack attack. You wanted to talk?" She leant back in her chair, getting comfortable.

"_I have some random questions,_" Gwen admitted.

River laughed. "Random's what I do, honey. To look after juvy nutcases, you have to be a nutcase yourself. Wassup?"

"_Well_," Slowly, Gwen explained what had happened the week before, trying to remember as much detail about the evening, and then a conversation she had had with her cousin earlier that day.

River mulled it over in her mind, looking out of the window at the harbour. The Olympic Peninsula was just visible in the midday haze; it always gave her inspiration. "I think you're right," she concluded, looking back at the computer screen. "I think you scared Kevin witless."

Gwen laughed.

"In all seriousness," River shook her head, trying to keep a straight face. "His mind probably shut down for a moment so he didn't," she used her fingers to emphasise the quotation, "_lean in_, so to speak. I don't think its you at all,"

Gwen frowned, and cocked her head to one side for a moment.

"Something on your mind?" River guessed.

"_What if it is me?_"

River smiled, shaking her head again. She'd been there, done that, got the t-shirt… Life moved on. "What makes you think that?"

"_Well, just that sometimes I think maybe I'm pushing him too much,_" she ranted on for a few minutes, and River cut in when she stopped to draw breath.

"Okay, first things first," she sat up straight in her seat, "Kevin has had a hard life. I don't think any of the kids I've worked with before had it that bad, and he has done remarkably well to integrate back into society without ending up on one of these programmes I get involved with. And from what I remember you telling me before, he hasn't had a proper paternal figure in his life. His own home life has been more then a bit screwed up by and large, so it isn't surprising that he's not comfortable with the idea of being in a relationship. I'm not saying that he doesn't want to be, but just…it's hard to do or be something, when you have no idea how to be…if that makes sense."

Gwen looked at her web cam blankly.

"Okay. He's never witnessed a proper, good, solid relationship, so he'd probably terrified that he'll screw up. You don't have to have a degree in psychology to work it out, just common sense; all you do in developmental psychology is learn big fancy words to tack onto ideas you may already know and understand." She shrugged. "Ask Steph she adores taking the piss out of my profession."

When no response came, she said, "I know it's annoying, but just sit it out. He'll come round sooner or later, he just needs time. Or for something to happen to make him realise what he actually wants out of life." She pulled a face. That was the story of her life.

"_What do you mean?_" Gwen asked.

Of course she was curious, everyone always was about her life.

"Well," she raised her eyes to the heavens. "My life is slightly screwed up, but not to the same degree as Kevin's, by any means. I was adopted; I never knew my biological family. I have five brothers – ha ha – and I was going out with a guy when I was eighteen and then I had a major car crash. Long story short, I was in a coma for three weeks, and I woke up unable to do anything. Then my boyfriend comes along and says that he was so worried about me he went out and got drunk, and discovered he was gay." She raised her hands and rolled her eyes before looking at the screen again. "And you know what? I was cool with it. He hadn't known, and he told me as soon as I was coherent again, rather than lie and keep it hidden, and everyone told me how horrible it was." She shrugged. "I was actually quite happy. If I had never had that car crash, I would probably have married Dave, had kids and be divorced by now."

"_What did you do instead?_" Gwen asked, wide eyed.

"Loads of stuff. I've travelled all over the earth – never been off world though, I brought up here and I'd like to keep my feet on firm ground within the atmosphere. The point is though," she leant forward, thinking back through everything that had happened since that near fatal morning, "Every one thought I was gonna die. But I'm here, living and breathing. One thing, one tiny mistake on a lorry driver's side, changed my life for the better. Sure, about twenty per-cent of my brain tissue is dead, but Dave found who he really is, and he's happy with his life now, and I got to travel and see so much of the world. Plus I met Taylor when I finally got to college," she smiled. "Shit happened, but if I think about it, if I hadn't had that accident, I wouldn't be where I am now."

Gwen was silent as she digested her words.

Mel always said the accident was the best thing that had happened to River; she had been to the brink of death and back, and look where it had got her. She passed on her 'wisdom' as Mel called it, and 'insanity' as Lea called it, to other people.

It was all superficial, spiritual-psychotic crap to most people. River just did what felt right at the time. "It was literally a snap decision. One day I woke up and thought, I want to go to Canada! My dad knows people on Vancouver Island where I am now, so I trekked from the East coast to the West, and ended up in Victoria, where I first met Taylor. Then I came back to do a degree a year later, and we've been together ever since. Still looking for a house in Sooke, not going to well, but we'll get there."

"_Wow,_"

River rolled her eyes. "I know," she laughed. "I guess that's why I relate well to other people. I've seen a lot, and I've laughed and cried with my friends through it all. I nearly died, _again_, when Taylor invited me to meet his family from T'souke, and we went to the potholes for a day. Me being stupid decided it was a good idea to climb up to the cool box in my flip-flops. Given my balance has been impaired I should have asked one of the guys to go get it for me, but Blondie here wanted to make a point. So, I tripped, fell down the slope, hit my head so I fell unconscious, and sliced my back open on a jagged rock. That's about five of my nine lives down the drain and I'm not even thirty. My mum went _ballistic_ when she found out."

"_Ouch,_" Gwen bit her lip. "_How do you still manage to get up and do stuff after all that?_"

"Well," River admitted, "I was sort of bed bound for a few weeks, and Taylor," her eyes rolled, "kept blaming himself. So classically himself, and in the end I said if he was gonna beat himself up about something he could not have changed, then I really _would_ leave him. I couldn't stand how he tried to take the blame for everything. The lorry driver who hit my car tried to do the same, and he's in a mental institute now because he couldn't handle the stress. I didn't want to see anyone go the same way, and when I threatned to walk out," she laughed, "that shut him up quite nicely. I managed to get some sleep. After that, things rolled along quite nicely.

"There I go again, waffling into the sunset before midday…oh, it's one o'clock. I've missed an hour. But my point," she returned to the screen, Gwen laughing at her. "My point is that, sometimes we need something to go really bad before we really open our eyes and actually see. It was completely random how I decided on Canada for my gap year, but I went for it. And after I saw what the stress had done to that lorry driver, and how happy Dave was when I let him go, and what my friends went through, I decided Psychology was where I wanted to go. And I have helped so many people.

"Kevin's experiences in life have effected him, but in a more negative sense of the word. But he's been to the edge too, in a different way to me, and my guess is that now he is petrified of going back there, so he's staying the hell away from it. Not to sound bitchy, but he has got a lot of issues – through no fault of his own – that need sorting through. My advice is be there, even if all you can do is listen; sometimes, people just need a shoulder to cry on. Trust me," she leant forward intently. "A level chemistry is a bitch. I quit after barely one semester because I couldn't handle the stress, on top of having glandular fever. I had to retake year twelve twice because of glandular fever and my accident. And Mel and her friends the Simcox twins came into the sixth form at the time that I should have gone off to college."

God she loved them all so much. "And then Miley couldn't cope with chemistry, and _she_ broke down in tears over it. I could pass on my experience to her and give her a helping hand. Not with the material, _God_! I never want to see another diagram of an electron in my life." Chemistry, they had decided collectively, along with the faithful ones who had kept at it for the full two years, was the single most greatest evil visited upon sentient life. Ever.

"_I was thinking of taking it up at college,_" Gwen mused.

"Get out an industrial sized box of tissues sweetheart, you'll need it." River said solemnly. "The guy who got top of the _country_ in A2 chemistry summer marks was in my biology class as well, and he was reduced to tears over it on several occasions. It is not pretty, all those flow diagrams about where the electron shells are…" she frowned at the memory. It was just meaningless coloured blobs on a sheet of paper. "I still have nightmares about it…"

Gwen laughed.

"Have I bored you to death? Or has my rant about life in general been helpful in any way?"

"_Very helpful,_" Gwen smiled. "_Thank you._"

"Yeah," River picked up her printing and checked the date. "Drat. It's the twenty-fifth today. Stupid Windows…" She dropped it in the box she used for recycling. "Just remember, shit happens to everyone at some point in their lives. No exceptions. The real test is how you respond to it. I've known people who have remained decent, honest and kind throughout many different ordeals. And some people I know have become bitter and twisted. I don't think Kevin's a bad person at heart. But that's going on what I've been told…it would be interesting to actually meet him."

"_Steph said something about you invading in the summer…_?"

"Yeah." River yawned widely. "If the bloody estate agent gets back to me. I'll be living in student digs till the day I die at this rate."

"_Maybe you could get disability allowance or something to speed up the process._" Gwen said, before clapping her hand over her mouth. "_I didn't mean, sorry! That sounded terrible!"_

But River was thinking along different lines. "Why didn't I think of that!" she grabbed her phone. "That's brilliant! I'm living in the capital of British Columbia, in a house with six other people – all men – and I need peace and quiet to keep my sanity, somewhere like Sooke. And them running circles around us is taking the piss. Gwen, I'm not offended in the slightest, you are a God send!"

She had to get hold of Taylor. His grandfather was one of the Elders of the T'souke Tribe, and they would be sure to kick up a fuss for them is River asked sweetly. After the initial shock of _another_ blonde girlfriend who this time actually took and interest in something other than shoes and athletes, she had become a much-loved member of their village. She might as well change her name to Pelkey right now, but Taylor wasn't bothered about marriage, and neither was she by and large.

"Oh," her phone stated singing at her. "Sorry, won't be a moment,"

---

Gwen felt horrible for saying that about her disability, but River seemed unconcerned about it, and when her phone went off, she to someone about it.

"_I was thinking, you know your granddad? He could…yeah, that's what I was thinking. No, I was spreading my wisdom-stroke-insanity with someone when they mentioned it. That's not a bad idea though, cause I thought- yeah. Huh? If they know why are they running circles around us?_" She used a few swear words Gwen had only ever heard Steph say before she went on, "_That is just taking the piss. The headaches are getting worse, but that might be my hay fever._" She looked away from her web cam across the room. "_No. I'm staring at Washington and thinking deep and significant thoughts._" She paused to listen, before laughing loudly. "_Get your mind out of the gutter, you're worse than my little brother. No, I do not have sexual fantasies about long dead American Presidents. _State_, you muppet, state. Cause it's just right there out my window! Oh come on, that's just low, bringing up snowy. Well, screw him, it may have escaped his notice, but I actually couldn't careless if he did a strip tease and dipped himself in cheese._"

Gwen wondered who she was talking to, and then she said, "_Taylor,_" in a patronising tone. It had to be her boy friend. "_Oh? Who said that? Oh. I think the part of my brain that gives a damn is dead. Humour me, please! Tell her I said go suck on a lemon. Okay, two lemons, but that's not my point. My point- shut up! My _point_ is that I am physiologically incapable of caring about what she has to say about me. Well- okay, I'll see you in…_" she checked her watch. "_Crap. I need to get my skates on. I have to go see Judy and Brian. Okay, love you too, babycakes! Bye!_"

She put the phone down. "_Sorry about that, had to sort out one or two things. But yeah…that was a clever idea. I shall now go kick up a media storm about how disadvantaged disabled people on low income are being treated by bullshit estate agents._"

"Have fun," Gwen said uncertainly.

"_Oh, I can be such a bitch when I want to be._" She affected an evil smile, which fell as she went on, "_Yeah, just remember what I said; sometimes something needs to happen, or almost happen, and it opens your eyes. And give Steph a nice big hug from me. And tell her I want that book back or I'll send the spirit of the T'souke tribe after her._"

"Will do," Gwen promised, wondering what that meant.

"_I has to go now. Take care, honey,_" and the webcam went dead.

---

The four of them were lying on their backs on the grass in the park, staring up at the overcast sky. Gwen had passed a message on to Steph from that vague entity that was known as _River_. She had gone very quiet, so Kevin decided now was the time to break the silence.

"How is that scar?" he demanded.

"One of Taylor's brothers put a curse on Dylan." Steph said, in an uncharacteristically subdued voice. "Every time he steps foot on the reservation, he gets attacked by killer wasps."

"What the hell?" Kevin didn't believe a word of it.

"And River's creepy!" Steph insisted, sitting u and hugging her legs close to her chest. "Her eyes are either blue, green or grey. It depends on the light you see her in, but Mel says its cause she's got fully developed sixth sense, but she's not a wiccan." She looked truly scared by the thought, which pull Kevin up short.

Stephenie Smith? Of the Phoenix Clan? _Afraid?_

"And she does this thing when she looks deeply into your eyes and she can see everything about you!" She went on.

Ben laughed. "Load of baloney." He dismissed.

"It's true!" Steph insisted, like a child who refuses to believe Santa Claus isn't real.

"You make it sound so romantic," Kevin chuckled.

"Like a candlelit dinner for two, and she writes out a psycho report on you under the table." Ben added.

They both laughed as Steph gnashed her teeth together. "I hope you burn in hell." She snarled. "She's coming in the summer anyway. I'll prove you bastards wrong!"

"How can you read someone like that anyway?" Kevin asked. "What is she, part psychic alien?"

Steph shrugged. "Part human part question mark. She was adopted by a human family; no one knows anything about her real family."

"Wow," Ben said, awed.

Kevin felt a twinge; at least he knew something about his real father. And he had his mother…

"Mmhmm," Steph smirked. "And her health had been up and down and crashed more times than the stock market."

"What the hell?" Kevin demanded.

"She's had glandular fever," Steph counted on her fingers. "Malaria, swine flu, meningitis, appendicitis," she moved to her other hand. "Had a car crash that's left her twenty-five per cent brain dead, sliced her back open, broken each limb starting from her left upper arm and travelling anticlockwise around her body to finish with smashing her right shoulder blade, broken her coccyx _five times_, broken her nose walking into a door, cracked her head open on an interior wall…" she looked from her hands to her booted feet and back again. "There's more, but I can't be arsed to take my boots off to prove the point."

"Wow," Kevin stated, amazed. "How does one body put up with all that abuse?"

"We will never know." Steph said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "She is, as Mel calls them, a _Soul Reader_."

Gwen sat up too and looked at Steph. "She didn't tell me that,"

"She doesn't tell many people, cause many people don't understand." Steph sniffed. "She claims she merely draws on her on experiences in life, but there's more to it. Its like…when she looks you in the eye, she can actually see straight through to your soul. You can read people's physical behaviour, right? Work out by their posture and gestures how they're feeling. Then you get some people with powers of the mind, who can see what you're really thinking. Mind and Body Readers. But you get Soul Readers, like Riv. They don't see you're current emotional state or what you're think at that precise moment, but they see everything that makes you who you are. She can tell loads about someone, just like that," she clicked her fingers together for dramatic effect.

"I don't get it." Ben broke the profound silence.

"Okay, El Kevino here has powers of the body. Yeah? Absorb stuff in general; it's all physical. Mel has powers of the mind, reads emotions and shit. Gwen uses a bit of both, strength of will plus the physical manifestation of manna. That…" she waved vaguely at the omnitrix. "I don't know where that goes in the grand scheme of things. But if there are powers of the mind and body, why not the soul too?"

Kevin tried to digest what she was saying. "Isn't that what that guy was on about?" he struggled to remember the author's name.

"There are many _guys_ in the world." Steph said impatiently.

"No, the guy who wrote The Golden Compass…Pullman or something?"

"That film was shit." Steph snapped, surprising him.

Ben and Gwen made a show of falling face first into the grass. "Now you've opened a whole new can of worms." Ben grumbled. He glared at Kevin over a molehill. "I hope you're happy."

"It's Northern Lights! It's called an alethiometer! Not a bloody compass!" She ranted on about the film destroying the trilogy, and the Tennyson cousins made a show of not listening. Ben tried to bury his head in the ground, and Gwen pulled out her ipod, and settled next to Kevin.

His heart had a minor spaz attack before he noticed no one paying attention to them; Ben was slowly crawling away, and Steph ranted on about Hollywood ruining great pieces of English literature. "And _Where The Wild Things Are_!" she snarled, pounding her fist into the dirt. "That fight never happened! It's not in the book! You…" she used many expletives, "…Americans screw all the best stories up. Look at Prince Caspian!" she demanded.

"No one cares, Steph!" Kevin had to yell to make himself heard.

Steph was about to round on him, when she stopped, and swept her eyes around the clearing they were in. "Where's the other twerp?"

Ben got up from his hiding place in the long grass and legged it.

"Bitch!" Steph jumped up and ran after him.

Kevin flopped back down so he was lying face up, staring at the cloudy sky, head pillowed her his hands. A cricket sang somewhere in the grass. Life was very dull at the moment.

The Gwen decided to lie down next to him, and curl up against his side, then his heart nearly turned in its resignation. What was scarier; the fact that they were alone together? Or that when she rested her head on his shoulder, it fitted almost perfectly against him; like his body had been moulded to fit just her.

Slowly, hoping he wouldn't get slapped, he removed one hand from behind his head, and gradually wrapped his arm around her shoulders. In one quick movement, Gwen shifted she that her cheek was pressed right his chest, leaning across him.

His heart and mind went into overdrive. What should he do? What did she expect him to do? What would be an appropriate course of action that wouldn't get him skinned alive?

Gwen closed her eyes, and gradually her breathing evened out. Kevin couldn't believe it; she fallen asleep on him. With her unconscious, he felt no shame in burying his nose in her hair, inhaling that wonderful scent he had come to associate with her. All his favourite fruit blended into one bouquet that he could sniff at for hours.

That made him sound like a druggy…

He hoped Ben and Steph took their time heading back to them, he quite liked this arrangement. It felt really…what was the word he was looking for?

Comforting? Was that it?

Yeah. It was comforting, having her here by his side. He could keep an eye on her and make sure no one hurt her, like that douche bag Darkstar. And he had a solid anchor, a reason to stave off the illegal deals and crime in general. He had been thinking long and hard since she had half-kissed-half-not kissed him after he had dropped her home from their 'dance'.

His dancing skills were crap; he would have to work on that.

Still, he had thought very long and very hard about his situation with Gwen, and had come up with an almost plausible reason for his attraction to her.

Gwen was, in essence, the opposite of him in many ways. And that was one of the reasons for him to fawn over her in the first place, but not so majorly important. What _was_ major was the fact that, she kept him from doing anything that might get him chucked back into the Null Void. He had tried, after being released, to be the man his father had been, but then he met the Tennyson's again after five long years, and noticed his old nemesis' cousin for the first time. Since then, he had been drawn back to her, and found the number of his deals had shrunk dramatically.

And of course, now that he had more free time on his hands because he was making fewer deals, he had time to actually act like a teenager and have fun. If Steph dropped dead right now he would mourn her for the rest of his life; he had never met anyone so brusque, sarcastic, blunt, and kind-hearted all rolled into one. Her way of cheering him up was to make him forget everything by doing something stupidly random and involving sugar. Heck, even Ben okay to hang out with!

But Gwen took it to another level.

She had chosen to bully him into taking her to that school dance, over any number of other guys who would have been crazy to say no. That was a pleasing thought. And right now, she was cuddled up with him, fast asleep. There was no way she would be toying with his emotions at this point, she had to be here now because she liked him in that way.

Still…he had no idea how to do this. Of the many things he had managed to screw up in his life, being with Gwen would be the one thing he did right. But how could he do the right thing if he didn't know what the right thing was?

"Mmm," Gwen's eyes fluttered open, then closed again before she yawned widely.

"Hey sleepy," he was surprised by the fondness in his own voice.

"Mmm…" her head sank back down onto his chest and she dozed off again.

Kevin raised his fingers hesitantly, before he swept them across her cheek. She felt soft and warm, and incredibly sleepy. His fingers found themselves tangled in her hair, and he marvelled at the soft texture that slipped between his fingertips.

Looking down at her familiar face, her lips slightly parted as she steadily drew breath, he contemplated something that had been bugging him for a while now. Beside his need to be with her, for his own sanity, another word had risen from the back of his mind, unbidden, into the forefront of his thoughts over recent weeks.

Was it possibly he was actually falling in love with Gwen? Or maybe he had already fallen for her, but he wouldn't admit to it, even subconsciously. But he was sixteen, and she was just under a year younger than him; that was way too young to be considering their future like that.

Wait, who said anything about the future?

Gah!

The thought of becoming a father or watching a blushing bride glide down the aisle towards him was terrifying. He'd almost rather face the Null Void again.

Almost…

Maybe if it was Gwen gliding towards him…they weren't soppy and overly romantic with each other; she loved to laugh as much as Steph, and he had so many random conversations with her about everything and nothing. In that respect, it was easy to talk to her; he knew he had someone who would listen to him.

The sky grew ominously dark, and started it started to spit. Slowly, Kevin sat up, and poked Gwen gently in the ribs.

"Hey, Gwen," he said softly, trying not to startle her.

"Mmm? What is it?" her speech was slurred by sleep, and she struggled in his arms to wake up properly.

Kevin fought back a laugh. She was adorable when she was half out of it. "It's raining."

"Oh."

He pulled them both to their feet, and took her back to his car, an arm around her shoulders. He would give it about ten minutes before I drove home, with or without Steph and Ben.

In the car, Gwen curled up in the passenger seat and fell asleep again. Kevin found himself watching her contentedly for some time until someone thumped against the window violently, making them both jump. She mumbled something in coherent, and Kevin turned around to have a go at Steph, who was trying to open the door. He put a hand against Gwen's forehead and pushed her back into the seat. She didn't protest, merely yawned widely.

"Let us in! We're drowning!" Steph yelled from outside.

She and Ben dripped water everywhere until Kevin kicked them out as he passed their houses. Gwen was awake, but still sleepy, so he had to walk her to the house before he said goodbye. She smiled at him, and kissed his cheek before she went inside.

Back at his car, Kevin looked up and saw Gwen talking to her mother through the window. She ran her fingers through her wet hair, and laughed at something Mrs Tennyson said. Then she walked away to the window to draw the curtains, and spotted Kevin still standing there. She waved at him, and he waved back grinning.

He tried to open the door, but it wouldn't give. When she closed the curtains and his view of her had been cut off, he looked down to find he had been trying to force the cap off the fuel tank. He was intensely grateful Steph and Ben had not been there to witness his failure. They would never hear the end of it.

---

A few days later, Kevin received an urgent text message from Gwen, and sauntered over to Ben's house. He hoped it was nothing too special, but when he pushed Ben's bedroom door open and saw the image of that Plumber's kid Helen he sighed.

"Holograms? It's never like I come over and you're just playing video games or something.

She needed help, badly, but the connection broke when Gwen could no longer maintain it. He grabbed her before she could fall, and pulled her close to him. She looked very pale and wan, which concerned him.

"What now?" Steph asked, a bit worried. "Should we go and help them?"

"Of course," Gwen said. "We just need,"

"No!" Kevin nearly shouted. He couldn't believe his ears. Gwen? In the Null Void? Over his cold dead lifeless corpse!

"What?" she looked up at him, startled by his outburst.

"Calm down," Steph said, waving her hands in the air. "I'm sure we can-"

"You're not going," Kevin told her. He was adamant about that.

If his own experience of the Null Void was anything to go by, it was a snowball's chance in hell he would let her go there at all. And if there was trouble brewing, he would rather go himself then let her.

Ben said determinedly that he would go instead. Steph raised an eyebrow at him, and Gwen looked torn, but Kevin was glad. Not that Ben might get ripped to shreds, but because Gwen would be safe on Earth away from whatever was terrorising that hellhole.

---

**Well, this is by far the longest chapter I have written so far, and I think I too waffled into the sunset…**

**So, good? Bad? Dragged a lot? MEH. Omg that was sh!t?**

**Please leave me a review and let me know! :D**

**I think I may do Unearthed before I do war of the worlds, and possibly a mega random one before or after. I duno. Then that will be all from this story. But don't worry, :D when I get the time, I will write another one for season 3, and maybe evolutions when it goes on air. Thank you and goodnight! (writing makes the wolf heart sleepy -_- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….)**

**xxx**


	26. Almost

**AN: Hello, hello! :D No, no, no! I'm not leaving you! :S omg I wouldn't do that! I'm just saying that THIS particular story will finish, and then I'll start another one! ;) lol yeah, season 3 is kinda crap…I was thinking that, if River swans down from Canada and applies of psycho babble learnings, Kevin might not hate himself so much, and therefore be less of a bastard throughout the season. Yeah, I don't really like what they did with Ben, he's a complete prat these days…**

**Also, I do believe it was a person who went by the name of **p6physicsp6 **that said they were like dodos in the rain xD ROFL I actually laughed at that :P I'm pretty sure that's what domestic turkeys do, but I wouldn't put it past Ben and Steph to go extinct as well…;)**

**Also, (I think I over use that word :S) to answer a few questions about River; she's sort of a mixture of personalities of people I know, including myself. I know to separate people, one who did have a car crash and has somehow managed to live on like a normal person (albeit when they over work themselves they pass out, because they think rock climbing is a good idea after a hard day at the office… -_-;; ) and another person who actually did slice their back open but not by tripping on a rock. River's sort of a mixture of different aspects from people I look up to all rolled into one. She kind of has my sense of humour. I too know what its like to be inundated with boys, and bloody hell it is NOT funny. Luckily, I only have the one brother, who's at Uni now :D several hundred miles away, which is perfect for me since I moved into his room and he can't stop me now! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**-AHEM!- I am getting off track here. Do please read and enjoy, if not, please leave a message after the tone.**

**(…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………meh I cba xD)**

_**Almost**_

The kids all bowed to Sensei and left for the changing rooms, laughing together. It had been a good training session; Gwen was hoping to get her first gold Dan soon. Her licence needed to be readmitted, though. It still stated she was on her seventh kyu, or green belt. She needed to get that seen too…maybe she would get round to it tonight.

She and the other girls in the karate class took to the showers before getting changed. Gwen was standing in front of the mirror, brushing through the knots in her hair, when someone pushed past her.

"Out of my way," Layla spat at her, tossing her dyed blonde hair over her shoulder.

Gwen clenched her teeth together, but said nothing. When she was in her old jeans, plain white shirt and sneakers, she ducked out of the changing rooms and outside to the parking lot. She was planning to catch the bus home, until she heard Layla's voice around the corner, saying, "Teacher's pet," and she marched, back ramrod straight towards the road. The next bus wouldn't be for half an hour, maybe she could walk home…

She looked over her shoulder, and saw that the cheerleading squad was following behind her.

Great, just great. As if being stalked by aliens wasn't enough! It just had to be the cheerleader squad as well. Walking home instead of waiting for the bus seemed like a good idea.

"Look at her," Layla sneered, just loud enough for Gwen to hear. "Little Miss Perfect. All she ever does is study and karate, or hang out with her cousin."

"Reckon something's going on there?" chided another girl.

"Eww!" a third said. "That's illegal in this state!"

"Maybe she's not so perfect after all," sniggered the second.

Gwen ground her teeth together, but kept on walking. She could take them out easily if she wanted to, but she wouldn't do it; it would give them more cause to pick on her if they knew what she could really do. Plus, it would be very unsporting of her given that they didn't stand a chance…

"Hey, Gwen!" Layla taunted. The other's started up a chorus, calling her name, so when a deep, familiar voice did the same, she didn't respond to it straight away.

"Gwen!" someone yelled from the other side of the road.

She looked up, and beamed. "Kevin!"

There was a silence from behind her as the squad took in the teen who was striding across the road towards her. Then one piped up and said, "Who's _that_?"

Gwen was so pleased to see him, that she rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck "I'm so glad to see you!"

He was taken aback, but he gave her a hug before stepping back. "What are you doing here? And how come you didn't hear me the first time?"

She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, jaw clenching. "That lot." She said in a constricted tone.

"Oh." Kevin said, comprehension dawning on his face.

"That's Kevin Levin," one girl said.

"What's _he _doing with _her_?" Layla demanded.

Gwen looked at them from the corner of her eyes, and felt her fist curl into a ball of its own accord. "Hey, Gwen," she looked up to see that sparkle of mischief in his eyes. "Shall I humour them?"

"Huh?" she didn't understand what he was driving at.

Kevin chuckled, and pressed his lips against her cheek. Gwen's skin felt tingly, like an electric current was being pulsed through her, and she stared at him wide eyed.

Did he just kiss her cheek? In front of Layla?

He grinned at her in a lopsided manner, his arm snaking its way around her waist before he towed her off down the sidewalk.

Layla sounded like she was choking, and Gwen bit her lip until they rounded a corner and she slumped against the wall, laughing. "I can't believe it!"

He let her go and leant against the wall beside her, laughing as well. "Stupid bitch," he chuckled to himself.

"Aww," Gwen wrapped her arms around his neck again, and kissed his cheek dramatically. "My hero,"

He blushed profusely, before muttering, "It was nothing." She let him go and reshouldered the bag she had flung on the floor. "Where were you going?"

"Home." She sighed. "Ken's gone back to college, and my parents are out. I was going to do some homework."

"Wrong-o," Kevin took her hand and started down the street again.

"What?" she asked, disbelievingly.

"We're going for a smoothie," he told her.

"But-" she began before he cut her off.

"It won't kill you to be spontaneous, Gwen. I do it all the time!"

"And how many lives do you have left?" she asked.

"A few," he said nonchalantly.

They went to the workshop the get his car, the drove to Mr Smoothies. Kevin bought the drinks, and they sat on the hood of his car to drink them. "Where are Steph and Ben?" she wondered aloud. Not that she minded they were not there; on the contrary, she liked spending time with him like this.

"Ben's on a date with Julie," Kevin smirked. "_At home_. Watching some chick flick Julie wanted to see. Steph's with her dad, not sure what they're doing." He looked her full in the face. He said something, but she was concentrated on the colour of his eyes at that moment in time, so she didn't hear. "Hello?" he waved a hand in her face. "Earth to Gwen!"

"Huh?"

"I said, what were you doing before?"

"Oh. Going home. Just finished karate."

He gave her the thumbs up. "Cool. How'd it go?"

"Great," she smiled. "What about you? What were you doing?"

The smiled slid from his face, and he looked away. "Just going for a walk."

She knew he was lying. "What's wrong?"

He took a deep breath before saying, "Cain."

"Oh," that would explain his sudden melancholy.

"My mom wanted me to sit with Crystal," he said without prompting. "And Cain wanted me out the house. So I left."

She put a hand on his on the hood. He sighed, and looked down at their hands. "Would it help if I came back with you?"

"What?" his head snapped up to look her in the eye. "My place?" he seemed dazed by the idea.

Gwen laughed. "You've never invited me in before. And you've seen my house," she added.

"Uh…"

She did her best to pout at him, and hoped it would work.

"Gees," he looked away. "Don't look at me like that! You make me feel guilty.

She laughed. "I don't have to. Just thought you'd like the company."

"Okay?" he said, uncertain.

It was a quiet drive back to his house, and he took a moment before he killed the engine and undid his seat belt. Gwen opened her door, and he slowly followed suit. She took his hand in hers as they walked to the front door. He let himself in, and pulled her to the top of a staircase leading to the basement. He ignored the sounds coming from the open door opposite, from what was most likely the TV room.

Down stairs, there was a laundry room, with a pile of clean washing sitting on a small, wooden table. It smelled of fabric conditioner, the same type her mother used. There was a door standing ajar in the corner, and Kevin kicked it open.

"I wasn't expecting company…" he said, embarrassed.

He let go of her hand and went to sweep up the papers scattered all over his bed. For a boys room, it was incredibly clean, if disorganised; his desk which held an ancient computer, was littered with school books and papers, along with a plain black pencil case he had doodled all over in tip-ex. There was a tiny on suite shower room in the corner, with the door open beside a chest of drawers and a small box like TV. She noted the XBox, the poster of a metal band she had never heard of, and a stack of books on his bedside table.

Kevin motioned for her to sit down once he had all the papers gathered up and stuffed them into a binding folder, which he shoved unceremoniously onto a shelf. She sank onto the bed, and looked at the books. They looked like art folders…

Carefully, she extricated one and flicked through it briefly. Her eyes widened slightly, and she said, "Kevin?"

"Yeah?" he flopped down beside her, a respectable two feet away to be exact.

"Why are there naked people in your sketchbook?"

His face went red. "It's part of the course we're on." He mumbled. "They brought in a couple of models; they posed and we drew. I didn't ask to do it!" he added in defensive as Gwen raised an eyebrow.

She laughed at his hurt expression. "I'm just messing with you!" She looked through the rest of the sketches. "You're really good," she added. "These are amazing." It was almost like the people were about to walk off the page.

The models were a young man and a young woman, both fit and trim, and the man had a blatant six-pack. Kevin managed to capture the way the light cast over the toned parts of his body, and likewise with the woman.

"It's really boring," Kevin said impatiently, whipping the book out of her hands.

"Hey! I was looking at that,"

He shoved another one into her hands. "That's more interesting."

It was all about faces and expressions. There were a couple of Steph, pulling faces at her from the page, and Gwen laughed. "It's so realistic!"

"We had to do a project on expression and feeling. I chose do to faces." He was suddenly enthusiastic. "Steph's got an interesting face. It's all angular." He explained what he had done on each page, and explained who the people were. There were a couple of photos stuck between the pages of a stunning girl with jet-black hair and bright, icy blue eyes and very fair skin. In one she had her hair pulled down over her face, and looked at the camera with a dull expression, and in the other her hair was tucked behind her ears, and she was smiling brilliantly. "That's Sally," Kevin told Gwen. "She's in my art class. We had to work in pairs and she was my partner.

"Mmm." She looked at the girl's heart shaped face, full lips, and beautiful eyes. "She's really pretty."

"Someone sounds jealous," Kevin sniggered.

"Am not," she snapped.

He smirked, but didn't continue, so Gwen went through the sketches, until she saw herself with a small thrill that ran up and down her spine. "I remember that," the day they had gone to the park together while Ben and Steph were out of town.

Kevin nodded in agreement.

Gwen looked up, and saw the strangest expression cross his face. Slowly, Kevin raised his hand and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. She never quite got over how such light, physical contact like that left her feeling all tingly inside. Every nerve in her body was alive and buzzing.

"Drawing…" she said to herself. "Guitar…" she looked over at the stand in the corner by the wardrobe, and then to the desk where a section of alien tech was lying in pieces. "Alien tech…Mechanics…" finally, she looked up at Kevin's quizzical expression. "Is there anything you can't do?"

He laughed. "Fly. But I'm working on that, I just need to find some rocket thrusters for my car…"

Gwen wasn't sure if she should believe him or not. She kicked her shoes off and brought her legs onto the bed, leaning against the pillow and the headboard. "I wish I could draw like you," she said wistfully.

Kevin stifled a laugh, and she glared at him. He managed to get his snigger under control and said, "Sorry, but I don't think there's any hope for you in the art department."

"What if I worked at it?" she said stiffly. "Practise makes perfect, after all."

Kevin got up and sifted through the junk on his desk, until he found a piece of paper and handed it to her. It was the embarrassing blob picture of the pond she had drawn, all those weeks ago. Gwen suppressed a snarl. "I think its safe to say, the only useful thing you could do in the art world is pose."

Gwen swatted him with the picture. "You're unbelievable," she huffed, folding her arms and glaring at the wall. She heard paper rustling, and turned to look at Kevin, only to find his face only a few inches away. Her heart crashed in her chest.

"You love it really," he taunted.

Oh yeah. Two can play at that game.

"And what is it that I love really?" she goaded.

She wished she hadn't started this game; Kevin put his hand down on the bed by her side, hemming her into the corner. He leaned in closer, so that their noses were just touching. What the hell was he doing?! He always shied away from such close contact. Where had this sudden confidence come from?

More the point, where had hers gone?

Gwen tried to crawl away, but she was already backed up against the headboard. There was that mischievous light dancing in his dark eyes, so she knew he was about to do something stupid, even if his lips were parted like he was about to kiss her. He paused, mere centimetres from her lips, and she found that her breathing was suddenly very loud in the silence.

Would he actually kiss her? It seemed unlikely, since she could still see that glimmer of humour in his eyes, which couldn't mean anything good…

Just when the tension seemed to reach breaking point, he leant forwards and down, planting his lips against her cheek and blowing a raspberry against her skin.

"Kevin!" she placed her hands on his chest and gave him an almighty shove, and he fell off the bed. "Gross!" she wiped her face on the back of her hand before rubbing it against his pillow.

Kevin just sat there laughing at her like an idiot. She glared at him, but he only laughed harder. "You should have seen your face!" he managed to get out before he lost his breath completely.

"Argh!" Gwen sprang on him.

His eyes widened in surprise for a moment, before he deflected her attack. Even though she had spent a solid two hours of training, she could keep on fighting for hours.

---

Okay, he knew he deserved to have his ass kicked, but Gwen was ruthless with him. Kevin sprang to his feet and tried to retreat across the room, but she grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards her. He was sure she didn't mean to hit him quite so hard, but his nose stung like hell when her elbow smashed into his face.

He was almost prepared to take back everything he had ever thought about her being so small and delicate. Small, yeah, she was rather petite. Delicate? Like a ton of bricks as she mauled his ass.

Still, he wasn't willing to strike out against her, the same way he would have it been Steph beating him up. His hands raised themselves only to defend himself from her punches. Somehow, he managed to grab her wrists, but she swept her arms in a circular motion in front of him, and managed to break his hold, and force his arms out to the sides so his front was exposed.

He managed to get a curse in before something hit him in the back of the knee and he lost his balance, landing face up on the floor.

Kevin had to hand it to her; he was amazed that she had managed to pin him down like this, even when he wasn't fighting back. Gwen's shins were lodged painfully against the joints where his legs connected to his pelvis, and one knee was crushing his hand, while the other was somewhere above his head at a painful angle so he couldn't bring it down and push her off. Her other arm was pressed against his throat, making it hard for him to breath.

Gwen's eyes were narrowed at him, and her breathing was laboured, like it had taken a lot of effort for her to put up a fight. That gave him an idea.

"Had enough?" she hissed menacingly in his ear.

"Yeah," he said past his constricted throat.

She pressed her arm against him a bit more firmly before she let go and sat back, preparing to walk away.

Kevin hooked his foot around her ankle and pulled back sharply as she tried to stand up. Gwen fell backwards onto the floor, throwing her arms out to steady herself. He sprang forward and tackled her flat against the ground, rather pleased with himself when she didn't fight back. Or maybe that was because she was out of breath…

Her left side was pressed against the floor, and so was her right shoulder, but the rest of her wasn't. Kevin leant forward to reach her ear, paused for dramatic effect, and said, "Ha,"

Something inside her ribcage tensed for a moment, like she was suppressing a laugh.

"I can't hear you," he teased.

"Can't…breathe…"she wheezed.

Carefully, Kevin lifted himself so he wasn't crushing her. Gwen rolled onto her back, not even trying to fight him off anymore, still breathing too fast to be considered healthy. With her chest heaving, she opened her bright, emerald eyes and fixed him with a steely gaze. "I…hate…you…" she panted.

Then he noticed the compromising position they were in; he was lying on top of her, propped up on his elbows, and she was still breathing heavily. If anyone came into his room and saw them they were in deep shit.

It took Gwen a bit longer to notice just how close his body was to hers, and when she did, she scuttled out from beneath him and retreated until her back hit the bed. She was all wide-eyed again, and adorable.

Kevin followed her automatically, only realising what he was doing when he had her cornered again. "Try that again and I _will_ kick your ass," she threatened.

He couldn't help but laugh. "Whatever you say," he said condescendingly.

She glared at him.

Kevin had been thinking a lot lately, something he never did as a rule, since he preferred to go by instinct. He had guessed that since she was always trying to get him to come out of his abnormally thick, mental shell, she wouldn't mind if he at least tried to kiss her. Even if he failed miserably, he was certain she wouldn't be angry with him or anything.

All he had to do was steel himself for the inevitable, and hope he didn't back out at the last moment like the coward he was.

It was amusing the way Gwen's eyes went from narrowed and burning to wide and surprised in a matter of seconds. Her breathing hitched in a different way to how it had before, and her eyes started to close. For the second time that day, their noses touched, and Kevin inhaled that fruity scent of hers.

The door crashed open and he jerked away from her, snarling to himself.

"Mom wanted to talk to you!" Crystal skipped into the room, holding the house phone.

"Go away," Kevin snapped. He snatched the phone from her hand and stalked across the room to his desk.

Crystal was used to his bad temper, so she skipped back out again.

"What?" he said to the phone. As his mother started reeling off a list of things she wanted him to do around the house before she got back from work. He only half listened, turning to look at Gwen instead.

She had her legs stretched out in front of her, and her hands were on the floor by the side; she stared up at the ceiling with a thoroughly irritated expression on her face.

When his mother had finished with her list and said goodbye, he put the phone down and said, "I've been roped into doing chores."

"I'd better get going," she looked at her watch. "I have homework that needs finishing."

"I'll drive you," he said, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet.

It was a quiet ride over to her place, and Kevin was still seething that his sister had walked in at the precise moment when he had managed to gather his courage to act on his feelings. Now he was too pissed off to try and retrieve his earlier feelings of happiness.

He walked Gwen to the front door, and she turned to him before she unlocked it. "I want to thank you again, for earlier."

"No problem," he sighed.

He snapped out of his gloomy thoughts when she raised her hand and cupped his face with it. It was her turn to lean forward, and he was more than willing to try and salvage the moment.

The door opened, and Frank Tennysons was standing on the threshold.

It took about two seconds for Kevin to react; Gwen looked stunned when she found he was suddenly six feet away from her. She looked at him questioningly, and then noticed the open front door.

"Daddy?" she practically choked. "I thought you were at work!"

"Closed early." He said suspiciously, eyeing both her and Kevin.

"Err, gotta go," he blurted out. "Chores and stuff. See ya tomorrow!" He fled back to his car like the coward he was.

He felt bad, just abandoning Gwen to deal with her father, but he was convinced he had just escaped bodily harm by the skin of his teeth. Gwen would forgive him, in time. He'd rather that she was mad at him than get killed by her dad.

---

**, am I evil or what??? ;)**

**Shoot me all you want, but I'm the one writing this thing, so I'm untouchable! HA! Still ill :( so I had time to write something halfway decent. I should be back to my education tomorrow, so nothing more from me until the weekend (and we've all heard that one before……-_-;;)**

**Don't worry, I'm no abandoning you yet ;) unlike that git Kevin xD You can't be rid of me that easily! Oh yeah, sorry if the Taylor Pelkey/Taylor Swift confused you. It was a joke I was going to incorporate in the next story with people being like 'yeah coz u is well lyk datin a guy called taylor n u r so in2 tht singer person lolz u suck' and River would do something which I won't give away just yet ;)**

**So yeah, at No.26. War of the Worlds next chapter? Do I don't I, do I don't I… I was planning on doing an immediate aftermath chapter and then one to round it all of by Ian being well enough to go back home and give him something before he goes. (if you read that in a sexual way GET YOUR MIND OUTTA THE GUTTER! :P lol) bet you'll never guess what Ian's gonna give him ;P the one who gets the closest guess before the actual chapter will get a virtual extra large smoothie with their choice of flavour! And a HUGE portion of fish and chips! :D**

**(you can always tell when someone is desperate because they start shamelessly begging xD)**

**Love you all, you awesome people! (insert heart here cause I can't make one since the site can't upload the less than sign)**

**xxx**


	27. Calm before the storm

**AN: Blargh. Half term WOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a mountain of paperwork to do waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :'(**

**And by the way, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! Tis the year of the tiger, I believe, do correct me if I'm wrong.**

**I fear I rambled a bit, as is my forte, and the next chapter will definitely be war of the worlds ;) and then an aftermath (MWHAHA! I will leave you hanging in suspense cause I is well evil lyk tht hahahaha!) Enjoy! ;)**

**PS. Crap title, I know, but I couldn't think of anything better at the time -_-;;**

**_Calm before the storm_**

Ian sat with his daughters either side of him on the roof of the house, eating fish and chips. He had often wondered to himself how his two girls were getting on back here on Earth, now he didn't have to wonder any more. He looked first from Mel, and then to Steph.

Mel was just like Michelle, but strawberry blonde, and she had his sapphire eyes. Steph was more like him, in more than just appearance; he watched as she tried to down about a dozen chips in one go, and chuckled when she looked at him wide-eyed.

"Is there a problem?" she asked innocently.

"You're so graceless," Mel chided. It was the closest to an insult yet that he had heard from her. When it came to personality, Mel was a lot like his older sister…

"And I should care, because…?"

Ian laughed, and put an arm around her shoulders. She grinned back.

He was certainly getting his strength back on Michelle's cooking; he could probably manage a leisurely flight now, maybe out to the desert and back… It had nearly killed him, that fight he had had with Steph and her friends; not that she had intended to hurt her own father, but he was exceptionally proud of her. Not many youngsters her age to fend off an attack from an adult Avis, even on the brink of collapse; different hormones in the body initiated different responses, and Ian had gone into overdrive mode, thinking he was about to die.

Of course, he was intensely glad that had not happened. Mel looked at her watch calmly, and Steph fidgeted with her empty plate.

"Wassup?" Ian yawned.

"I feel like flying." She paused, before continuing, "That makes me sound like a drug addict…"

Mel rolled her eyes, and Ian laughed. "I feel like flying to," he stood up.

"Can you?" Steph raised an eyebrow. "Not to state the obvious, since it's not my job, but weren't you on the point of dying like, two weeks ago?"

"We recover quite quickly," he shrugged.

Mel took his plate wordlessly, and then Steph's. "I said I was going to take the girls and Kev over to Kevin's house."

"_Why_?" Steph demanded, springing to her feet. "That makes Kevin sound like a kiddie fiddler."

"Because the they like playing with Crystal." Mel said simply.

"Kevin doesn't do kids," Steph said randomly. "He hates me and Ben, 'nuff said."

"Shall we?" Ian readied himself to jump.

Steph raised an eyebrow as she helped Mel through the skylight. "Mum always makes me wait like a week after I eat before I can fly."

He shook his head and grabbed her free arm. "That's swimming, you doughnut. Come on!" he threw her off the roof and jumped after her.

They caught the up draft and flew in lazy circles until they gained enough altitude. The strain on his wings was minimal compared to what it had been, but he had to make himself used to flying again, otherwise he would never be able to do it properly. Anyway, he wanted to see how Steph did it without ever having another Avis show her. She didn't respond to the low crows he made at the back of his throat, so he swooped down and pecked at her tail. Steph squawked and flapped her wings to regain her balance.

"What the hell?!"

"I did warn you," he retorted.

"Did not!" she angled herself upwards so he looked into her face as she rose. The look in her eyes was as good as a scowl.

"I need to teach you Avis before I take you to Re'ath." He mused to himself.

A questioning coo built up at the back of her throat. Ian dived for the ground, and levelled out before coming to a boring, standard landing. He watched Steph make a steep angled to the ground and pull her wings close to her sides before she unfurled them at the last moment, hovered in the air for a fraction of a second, and landed with a soft thud on the dusty ground.

"You need some instruction," he stepped forward as she started cleaning the sand from her feathers.

Her head snapped up, and he tensed in an automatic response to possible danger. "Did I do it wrong?" she asked sheepishly.

Ian laughed, relaxing his stance. "No, but you need fine tuning. But, you've done extremely well considering you've never been taught properly." He cocked his head to one side, just as Steph did the same. She needed drilling before he took her to his home planet; some Clans weren't as lenient as others when it came to lack of education, whether it was the person's own fault or not.

He skimmed over the basics, and then showed her how to tidy up her technique. She was a fast learner, so when they took a break, he taught her how to make different sounds with her break and throat, and told her what each one meant and when it was appropriate to apply them. Some things she knew instinctively, like snapping her beak shut in one decisive click in someone's face to register annoyance, though she shouldn't use it so often. He could see straight away she had a problem hiding her irritation, but it took a lot over a long period of time to make her truly angry.

By the time the sun was setting, they were able to have broken conversations in Avis, and he laughed when she called it 'pigeon Avis'. "That's what we called it when we used a phrase book abroad," she told him as they preened their feathers. "Like 'pigeon French'. Only, it's a bit ironic when you _apply_ it to Avis," she laughed at the sarcastic look he gave her when she over pronounced his favourite term of the day.

"Enough," he nipped at her tail for the millionth time that day. "Time to go home. Your mother will wonder what I've done with you,"

Steph exaggerated the beginner's take off position and fanned her tail feathers. "How's this?"

That earned her another nip for being cheeky, and he had to chase her several feet across the dusty ground before he said, "Off with you,"

She took off from that position, keeping everything he had taught her in mind. "Race ya!" she said suddenly, and then she was streaking across the sky like a shooting star.

Ian sighed, gathered up his energy, and chased after her.

Steph ducked and swooped in every direction, trying out all the new techniques he had shown her. Right in the middle of her corkscrew he dive-bombed her, shrieking at the top of his lungs. She nearly fell out of the sky, but rocketed upwards and cannonballed into him as he tried to rise up again. He caught a glimpse of her expression as she shot by; her eyes sparkled with humour. He dived after her, aimed for her tail feathers.

They continued this way, zigzagging across the sky all the way home, cawing and shrieking with laughter all the way.

---

Michelle tutted to herself as she cleared away the drinks Steph and her friends had left on the windowsill in the front room. She wished they would remember to clear up after themselves. Alien attack or not, that was no reason for sloppy house keeping.

A sound he had not heard for a long time reached her ears through the open window, and she looked up in time to see two huge birds, one gold, the other hazel, both flecked with flame red, landing at the end of the path. They stumbled forward, and in a flash of harsh white light, Ian and Steph ran down the cement pathway to the door, fighting each other to get to the door first. She wrapped her arms around his waist and tackled him to the ground before jumping up and racing to the front door. Ian laughed when she was too late to slam it shut in his face.

"I win!" she crowed with triumph.

"Because you're a lowly cheater!" he poked her in the ribs.

"But I still won," she pointed out, beaming.

Ian stretched his arms out, yawning widely. Steph spun on her heel to walk away in victory, when he wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her close to him in a headlock. "And this is why _we_ have a strict hierarchy on Re'ath. And why its good practise to _respect your elders_!"

Steph managed to pull herself from his grip, but lost her balance and fell over backwards on the hard wooden floor. She sat up, dazed, and said nothing.

"Oh, Steph!" Michelle fretted. "Are you alright? You always over do it,"

"She's fine," Ian pulled her to her feet, and pushed her towards the stairs. "She's one tough cookie."

"Ian," Michelle scolded. After sixteen years, she had forgotten how laid back he was. "You shouldn't encourage her! Steph needs only the shadow of an excuse and she's off like that!" she snapped her fingers.

Ian gave her a blank look. "And this is a problem…how?"

Gerald came through the front door then with Tom and the shopping. "Oi, Steph!" Dylan yelled, bringing up the rear.

She appeared at the bottom of the stairs, grinning. "Sup, bitch?"

"Stephenie, don't use that language!" Michelle sighed. She was clearly in a minority here.

"Look what I have!" he sang, holding out a DVD case.

Steph gasped, and swept him up against wall in her hast to look at the film. "I love you!" she planted a huge kiss on his cheek before seizing the movie and running upstairs, cackling with glee.

"Eww!" Dylan wiped his face on his sleeve. "That was _gross_, Steph!"

"She hasn't got cooties," Tom said mildly. "I'm sure you'll live."

The house phone went off, and Gerald went to go and get it. Over ruled, again, Michelle went back to collecting the abandoned cups.

"Michelle,"

She looked up at Ian, frowning. Did he have any idea what sort of nonsense Steph got up to? And how dangerous it was without being encouraged?

"Steph's fine. Just been teaching her the basics of how to fly without getting knocked out the sky. She knows what she's doing."

"And do _you_ know what she's doing?" Michelle demanded. He was her father for goodness sake! And now he was back in her life he should be taking a more active role in keeping her under control.

"Steph, it's for you!" Gerald shouted up the stairs.

"Come on!" Ian groaned. "She's tough enough and ugly enough to deal with it. What's the worst that could happen?" he jumped as a paper aeroplane attacked him in the back of the head. Spinning around, they saw Steph in the doorway, frowning at him.

"Watch who you're calling ugly, feather brain. _I know where you sleep!_" she made that ridiculous 'I'm watching you sign' finger's alternating from in front of her eyes, to Ian, and back again. "Sup, Benny boy?" she said down the phone, moving out of sight.

Michelle sighed. "Am I the only one who's concerned here?" she asked the air around her.

Ian laughed and went to the couch. "Yell at me all you want. Steph won't bat an eyelid."

Mel came in just then, saying, "Kevin says,"

"Can'ttalkrightnowgottago_bye_!"

Steph raced out the open front door and transformed on the welcome mat, taking to the air in record time.

Michelle dumped the cups on the table and stalked out of the living room. "Why do I even bother?"

---

Gwen was going to kill Steph if she didn't turn up in the next five minutes. They were fighting a group of DNAliens that had sprung a surprise attack on them in the middle of nowhere, and Ben had just dive-bombed them from the air as Jetray, which had saved them for now. They needed another dive bomb, preferably one with feathers and a nicely curved beak for pecking.

She bowled three aliens over at once before she finally got spat on. It caught her foot as she was running forward, and she fell down as a result. Taking advantage of her weakness, they all turned as one and she was covered in their goo.

They did this every other night, but that didn't make it any less disgusting.

"Gwen!" the guys yelled in unison.

There was a thud and a groan, and Gwen knew Kevin had been tossed aside. She sighed deeply, wondering if he would ever notice a pattern immerging in the way his fighting tactics were perceived and dealt with by the enemy. Jetray landed and became Swampfire, but before he could do anything, one of the aliens grabbed her hair and jerked upwards sharply, and she felt something cold and hard press against her neck.

---

They had her pinned to the ground, with a laser gun pressed against her throat, and still she managed to glare at them. Kevin so dearly wanted to rip their heads off, but he was weighed down as well, and Ben had stopped fighting since Gwen was in danger.

"_Give us the quartz!_" one of them shrieked.

"_Or the girl gets it,_" hissed another, pressing even harder against her throat so she winced.

"Gwen!" He tried to get up, but several DNAliens were holding him down, and he couldn't get up.

"_Do your team mates mean so little to you?_" asked the first one, cupping Gwen's face with its scaly hand, stroking her cheek.

Kevin's blood boiled, and he struggled to get up again. He was immensely proud of her when she pulled to one side and bit its hand, making it scream out loud. Ben took the momentary distraction to run forward and tackle two of them to the ground.

A familiar call from high above raised their spirits even more, as Steph came hurtling out of the heavens and scattered alien's left, right and centre. "I'm back, mother fudgers!" she shouted, getting her talons into several aliens and tossing them aside like refuge in a tip. She flew close to the ground, clipping the DNAlien's holding him down with her wings so Kevin could get up.

Swampfire dissolved into Humungosaur, and ran after Steph as she carved a path of havoc through the enemy ranks. Needless to say, they retreated with great haste, and Steph landed on a rock, fanning her wings and screeching at the top of her lungs in a new battle cry. Ben chased them as far as the road before running back to the others.

Kevin, on the other hand, forgot about fighting entirely. He ran to Gwen's side and absorbed the rock the rock around him, grabbed the solidified goo and pulled. It came apart easily beneath his hands, and she slumped against the ground, breathing heavily.

"You okay?" he asked in a tight voice.

She groaned in response, and struggled to sit up straight. He pulled her against him so she could lean on him for support, and titled her chin up so he could check her for injuries. That laser barrel was going to leave a nasty bruise on her fair skin; it was purpling already.

Steph landed with a thud by their side, and proceeded to wipe her beak in Gwen's hair, cooing softly. "You okay?"

"I will be," she mumbled.

Normal Ben ran over to them, sliding to a stop in the dust. "Is everyone all right?"

They nodded.

Steph preened her feathers, saying, "What were they after this time?"

"Dunno," Kevin shrugged, pulling Gwen to her feet.

"They were screaming about quartz crystals," Ben mused as they went back to the car. He fixed Kevin with a shrewd look, and he felt highly offended.

"Why do you always look at me?" Kevin snapped.

"You're more likely to take their shinnies than the rest of us put together, so…" Steph trailed away with a laugh.

"Hark whose talking, bird brain." He snarled.

Something hit him squarely between the shoulders, and he was aware of Ben grabbing Gwen before she fell over. Steph had flown at him from behind, and now he was lying face first in the dirt, with her talons worryingly close to his throat.

"Do I _look_ like a flipping magpie?" she demanded.

"Could've fooled me…"

She snapped her beak by his ear, and used a string of curses that had to have come from other languages because he couldn't recognise them. He responded with the worst curses he knew from the Null Void slang, and she stared at him blankly.

"Say wha…?"

"Never mind," Ben said impatiently. "Can we go home now? Let's go find this thing that's been steeling from the DNAlien's tomorrow. I have a physics test in the morning,"

Steph bounced away so Kevin could drag himself to his feet. He immediately strode over to Ben, who surrendered his cousin to him. It was gratifying to see how easily and calmly Gwen came to him, and he wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her on her feet.

"I'll fly if you guys don't mind," Steph said, flapping her wings.

"Fine by me." Kevin shrugged. Less gas he had to pay for.

"See ya!" she called cheerfully before taking off.

It was a quiet ride back into town. Ben said goodnight and left for his house, and Kevin took the long way back to Gwen's, actually obeying the speed limit for once. She must have noticed, but apparently she didn't care; she kept massaging her throat and wincing every time she coughed.

When he pulled up outside her house, the lights were all off and there were no cars on the driveway. Gwen sighed heavily to herself. "I forgot, my parents went to dinner at his boss' house."

"Will you be okay?" Kevin wasn't happy just leaving her alone in that house.

She shrugged. "I'll just get something from the fridge and heat it up." She said nonchalantly.

Kevin shook his head. "You…wanna come eat at my place?" His mother wouldn't mind. Cain would, but Kevin didn't care.

"If your mom doesn't mind," she said slowly

Kevin laughed. "She won't. Besides, I hate to think of you in that house. All alone. In the dark. Without someone to protect you…" he smirked at her.

She glared at him. "And what makes you think I need protecting?"

"Well, you can't scream at anything to repel them. What happened if a DNAlien attacks you?"

She punched him squarely in the gut, but he laughed once he got his breath back. "You're unbelievable." She scowled at the window.

"No," he teased, starting up the engine. "I'm Kevin Eleven."

She turned to face him suddenly, and he nearly killed the engine again. "What is it?"

Gwen shook her head, like she was trying to dispel a thought. "Nothing. Just…" she looked him in the eye, and her next words became hesitant. "We don't really talk about that…what happened five years ago…"

He shrugged. Meh. He tried to pretend it had never happened most of the time. Then the lamest excuse came to mind, and he blurted out without even thinking, "It's my initials."

"Huh?"

Crap!

"My…err, my full name's Kevin _Ethan_ Levin."

"What?" She laughed. "Your middle name starts with an 'e'?"

Kevin wanted to plant his face into the steering wheel. Stupid, idiot… "It's not _that_ funny…" he muttered darkly. He swore his parents had been playing some kind of joke on him.

"Kind of ironic," Gwen giggled.

"Alright, alright," he snapped.

The giggle died in her throat, but the sparkle in her green eyes didn't. "I'm sorry, I just found it kinda funny."

"Everyone does," he muttered gloomily.

"For about the first five minutes." Gwen agreed. "It's no big deal." She pulled a face.

"What about you?" he demanded. "What's your middle name?"

She scowled. "Gwendolyn Amelia Tennyson. It sounds way to fussy, that's why everyone calls me Gwen."

Kevin stared at her in awe.

"Go ahead, laugh. They're ridiculous names," she ranted.

He shook his head. "No, no. They're really pretty names." He said before he could stop himself.

She smiled at him in silence, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He always ended up speaking his mind around her, and sounding like a complete idiot…

To save himself from further embarrassment, he pulled away from the sidewalk and drove back to his house. He couldn't resist taking her hand again as he walked up to the door. "Mom!" he called to the house at large. "I'm home!"

Crystal ran out of the living room and mobbed him. "Kevin!"

He grinned, let go of Gwen's hand and lifted her off the floor, holding her upside down. She screamed, kicking her legs wildly, but he knew she loved it really.

"Kevin?" his mom came out of the kitchen. "You're early, I didn't think you'd be back until gone eight."

He shrugged. "Meh,"

She rolled her eyes. And then she noticed Gwen.

"Mom, this is Gwen Tennyson," he supposed they would end up meeting sooner or later…

She did a classic Cari and started fussing over them both, while Crystal went on screaming. Eventually he put her down before Cain got home, and she skipped off to her room quite happily, as though he hadn't just suspended her upside down.

"Dinner won't be ready for another half hour," hi mother said apologetically, for the tenth time.

"We'll wait," Kevin shrugged. "Come on," he heard the front door open and he wanted keep Gwen away from his stepfather. Nothing good could come of this…

"And where do you think you're going?" he demanded, just as they were about to go to the basement.

"My room," Kevin said flatly, staring at him dully.

Cain eyed Gwen suspiciously, and she held a hand out to shake. "I'm Gwen, pleased to meet you,"

He scoffed, and went into the kitchen. Gwen lowered her hand slowly, blinking in surprise.

"Just ignore him," Kevin murmured as they went down the stairs. "He's a douche bag."

His mom had been very complementary, so he supposed she had been expecting a slightly warmer welcome from Cain. She shrugged flippantly, but took a deep breath when they were in his room.

"He's very…"

Kevin used a few words to describe his stepfather that earned him a slap. "Okay, shoot me!" he raised his hands in defence. "But he is. You can't deny it,"

Gwen sank onto his bed with a sigh. "I can see why you're always in a bad mood." She smirked.

He scowled at her. "Am not."

She patted the bedspread beside her, and he found himself sitting down at her side. "Do you always do that to your sister?"

"Yeah, she loves it really," he laughed. Then he remembered the last time he had said that in his room. It must have shown on his face, because she glared.

"Don't even think about it," she hissed menacingly.

"Think about what?" he teased, leaning forward so she scurried backwards into the headboard, scowling.

"Actually, I take that back." She snapped. "You don't think at all. It's a wonder you ever get anything done."

He smirked at her, and she frowned back. "And you still keep coming back to me. I wonder why?" he teased.

She narrowed her eyes. "Do not." She muttered.

"Let's face it," he goaded. "We both know why that is."

"Oh really?" she asked in a flat tone.

"Cause I have roguish charm," he let his tone grow husky, looking deeply into those emerald eyes. Gees…he needed a map, he always got so lost with where he was going.

On impulse, Kevin leant forward and pressed his lips against the hollow beneath her ear, lingering for just a moment too long. Her breathing pattern changed almost instantly, and he noticed a few seconds to late that he hadn't moved away. Her hair brushed against his nose as she turned her head to look at him.

"Kevin?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but Crystal banged on the door, shouting happily. "Dinner's ready!"

Kevin glowered at the ceiling. When he looked down again he saw her blank expression. "What is it?"

It took a moment for her the find the words. "That's the shortest half hour I've ever spent."

---

Steph and Dylan were wolfing down their dinner at the speed of light, paying little attention to the twins and Kev arguing over what to watch on TV. The girls wanted to be grown up and watch big-smart kids programme like _Life on Earth by Sir David Attenborough_, and Kev wanted to watch WALL.E.

Steph felt her phone buzz, and pulled it from her pocket. "I swear, one more DNAlien attack and I am going to scream."

"What now?" Dylan moaned. "We were gonna play Halo after this!" he pointed at his plate.

"_You_ may be, but I'm going on Facebook." She opened the new text message.

"Bitch." Dylan muttered.

"O. M. G. Kevin's having a spack attack!" she laughed.

He had texted her for advice on how to handle difficult family situations. Apparently he had asked Gwen back to his house, and now Cain was being an arse hole and he didn't want Gwen to feel uneasy. Steph shook her head and texted back, '_just wing it soz i'm no help ;) xxx'_

A minute later she got a text back that said, '_bitch_'.

Steph grinned to herself, shovelling potatoes into her mouth. All in a days work.

---

**Meh, I dunno…. rambled a bit. I'm gona have fun next chapter! :D**

**Please review, you have no idea how much fun I have reading them xD they always make me laugh when someone makes a random comment, you guys make my day, you really do! Also, **ledah13**, I share your pain! :S well, not anymore cause I was unfaithful to my options and ditched chemistry cause I was dying with flu (possibly swine, not entirely sure…) and I cried like five times in one day going 'I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!' and dropped it like a red hot iron. Luckily, I don't need it to get into uni, so I'm over the moon :D screw psychiatry! That's what best friends are for ;)**

**xxx **


	28. War Of The Worlds

**AN: TAH DAH! Lol I haven't done the WHOLE ting cause that would just take too long and I cba to try and find all the scripts for it on the inter net to get it word perfect, and we will still be here Christmas 2025 waiting for it if I did the whole thing :P**

**Rofl someone pointed out to me that I am not Chinese. I would have thought the 'blonde brit' gave it away xD lol nah we have a lot of Chinese kids at my school so every year we have the dragon dance in assembly to usher in all the best of luck blah blah blah so on and so forth. I always enjoy it, you know the taste of another culture (and we don't listen to the head drone on and on and on and one and……..you think I'm bad, this guy has the type of voice that makes you want to fall asleep -_- zzzzzz…)**

**And no, Avis is not pigeon xD its an on going joke with my friends and I; its basically what normal people would call 'phrase book' learning, where you learn a phrase like 'Ou est le piscine?' without actually learning how the language works like verb endings and stuff like that. But speaking like a pigeon, god that's hilarious xD I'll make Kevin use that one later! :D**

**And because I want to be difficult and end this in 30 chaps, I'll just be lazy and tell you what happened; after dinner Kevin drove Gwen home and Frank shot him. Fortunately for me, his stunt double came to do this chapter for me at minimum cost (two hotdogs cause I'm broke :S)**

**Enough rambling! ON WITH THE SHOW!  
(*cue dramatic drum roll*)**

**_War of The Worlds_**

Steph had received a panicked text message from Gwen, and flown over to Mr Smoothies. She circled above, trying to remember her latest lesson in Flying: 101 and how not to dive bomb and flatten everything within five metres of her wings. It was a real shame she couldn't feign flattening Ben anymore and say 'I didn't know what I was doing!'

She landed a bit more gracefully than normal beside Gwen, and started preening her feathers. She used to do this out of habit, and for something to do. Now she understood the importance of clean, grit free feathers.

"What's happened?" She noted Paradox standing a few feet away from them, and Azmuth on the hood of Kevin's car.

"Ah, yes. Stephenie, right on time." Paradox checked his over sized old-fashioned watch. He proceeded to explain, with Azmuth interjecting every so often, that the end was nigh.

When they were finished telling them what was happening, Kevin fixed her with a glare. "What the hell?!" she snapped. "What did I do this time?" Oh yeah, that's right. He was pissed off because she hadn't given him any help last week when he so desperately needed it. And she had torn a strip out of him for beating up that little baby monster-alien, and called him a heartless…something or other, whatever it had been. Steph was too busy learning how not to offend people by accident in the Avis tongue, and how it was socially acceptable to react to certain situations to remember what she had said to him about seventy-two hours ago.

Kevin jabbed her in the chest, glowering, and a growl rose at the back of her throat. "I'll tell you what you did. You predicted this whole mess!" he accused.

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! How the hell did I do that?" she demanded, fluffing up her feathers so she appeared even larger than before, and Kevin's hand was absorbed in a ball of golden fluff.

"You always said it was all gonna end badly and we would all die horribly. So I'm blaming _you_ for this!"

Steph snapped her beak right in his face, and told him to do something unsanitary to his mother in Croatian. Gwen interjected before they actually tore each other's heads off.

"Just calm down! We're not going to be able to fight them off if we're fighting each other!"

Steph fanned her wings, stood up straight, and looked in the opposite direction, knowing Kevin was doing the same.

Ben sighed loudly, attracting their attention. "We're going to need all the help we can get." He said, looking at them pointedly.

They made plans to go after the other Plumber's kids and get their help. Azmuth wanted a word with Ben about the omnitrix, so Steph readied herself to fly home and ask her dad if he was up to it. She was worried; they would need a more experienced fighter among them, but she didn't want him to get himself killed in the process.

Kevin proclaimed he wasn't going with Gwen or Steph, but was going to stay with Ben and listen to want tiny had to say. "You go ahead Gwen. There's no way I'm missing this."

Gwen got pissed off and grabbed his hand, dragging him away from the car. "Kevin Ethan Levin, you come with us right now." She snapped.

Steph's jaw dropped, she exchanged a look with Ben, and they both burst out laughing. "Ethan?" Ben said disbelievingly. "Your middle name is _Ethan_?"

Steph collapsed due to the fact that she couldn't get enough air into her lungs.

"Kevin, _E_leven? Ha!" they both laughed harder. "You just lost all remain pretence of cool."

Steph stood up and prepared for take off. Wings? _Check_. Tail? _Check_. Legs? _Check_. Stance? _Check_. Brain? Still missing, working on that one.

Just before she took off, she turned to Gwen and Kevin. He was looking at her in a heart broken way. "You promised you'd never tell!" he whined.

She spun on the spot, about to give him a piece of her mind in a way only she could, but Paradox raised a hand and they blinked out of existence.

Steph flew home as fast as she could, landed haphazardly, and ran inside.

"Steph," her father said disapprovingly from the tiny dining room table. "That was a terrible landing." He was helping the twins learn macramé, _the art of knotting_, and making some bracelets.

"Dad!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the living room. "We have a _big_ problem,"

"Whatever's the matter?" he looked perplexed. "You never get this worked up over a mission."

"Dad, the world could end. Quite literally. In a matter of hours."

Ian sighed. "And who's training their laser cannons at Earth _this_ time?"

"Dad!" Steph shook him, trying to get the message through. "The Highbreed are going to destroy everything! Earth, Mars, Re'ath, Saturn, the whole bloody Milkyway! The whole universe! We've got to stop them!"

Ian Smith's face drained of blood. "And you're quite sure?"

"Yes!" Steph's laughter at Kevin's expense had long since evaporated. She had never given much thought to the future; she had always lived in the here and now. Suddenly, the thought of dying he thrown everything in her mind into a melt down. She would never admit to it out loud, but she was terrified, not just for herself but her whole family. "Azmuth of the Galvan, the guy who made the omnitrix, came here with this Paradox guy, and Gwen and Kevin have gone to get more help, and-"

"Now what?" Dylan drawled from the double doors into the room. "We're all gonna die horribly?" he joked.

Steph wanted to slap him into the next century. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shook some sense into him. "Yes! That's _exactly_ what's going to happen! And not just Earth, but all sentient life in the known universe!" Stupid idiot! Why couldn't he grasp the concept?

"Steph!" her father spun her round and shook her. "Calm down, you're hysterical!"

She tried to calm herself by breathing in through the nose, and out through the mouth. He nodded approvingly. "Now then. What's your plan of action?"

She bit her lip. "Dad…we can't go in without an experienced fighter, but I don't want to put you in danger…"

He shook his head. "Steph, I'm touched, really I am. But one life weighed against the rest of the universe,"

She cut across him. "But you're not strong enough! You were like dying a month ago! If you could just tell me some good tactics I can use,"

"I'm going whether you like it or not," he said, grabbing his jacket from its peg.

Steph glowered at him. "And what if you do die out there then?" she snarled.

Dylan had slunk away, and the twins had run upstairs at some point, but she didn't care. Ian had only just come back into her life after nearly sixteen years, and he wasn't about to leave it again.

"I'm going, and that's that." He snapped at her.

"Dad!" she felt the tears building up and tried to hold them back. "You already disappeared out of my life once. I don't want you to sod off again just to get yourself killed!" she found she was actually shouting, and not just for effect. She had never felt this scared in her life, or angry. How dare the Highbreed do this! Not just screwing up her own life, but everyone else's in the universe. She couldn't stand it.

"Stephenie," he pulled her into a hug, but she didn't move, fists balled together tightly, jaw clenched. "I'm so proud of you, I really am. And if giving up my own life in exchange for yours was my only choice, I'd gladly take it. I've lived a while now, and there's not much else an old veteran like myself can do. You and your friends have so much to live for. If there's even a shadow of a chance we'll pull through this, I'll be there on the front line."

She wanted to scream at him, but her voice was missing, she couldn't find it anywhere.

"Come on, Ben and the others will be waiting."

Mel appeared out of nowhere, and he spoke to her in a low tone for a moment before she went into the kitchen to assure a worried looking Gerald.

Her father had to push her out the door, and he was about to transform when Steph couldn't take it anymore. Her damned up tears breached their banks and she ran at him, catching him around the waist and crying. "I don't want to lose you!"

He hugged her back, stroking her hair. "You won't. I promise." He straightened her up, pulling her long hair back from her face and sorting her appearance out. "Come on, trooper. We have fish to fry."

---

Gen felt jittery, nervous.

Not just because they were all staring death in the face sooner or later, but also because Darkstar was hovering to close for comfort. He kept shooting them all sideways glances, especially her, and she was having second thoughts about setting him free.

Ben and Kevin kept close by her, even Cooper glared in Darkstar's general direction, and Kevin put an arm around her for comfort. She leant into his embrace, seeking comfort. Finally, Steph arrived, landing rather clumsily alongside her father. She looked very subdued beside him; Ian held his head high, looking determined. Steph looked like she was on the verge of an emotional break down.

Gwen left Kevin's side to give her a hug. "Ben's got a plan," she told her.

"Great," Steph said listlessly.

"The mater control's been unlocked." He told them. "We have another advantage." He turned to Ian and said, "We really appreciate what you're doing for us,"

"Whenever you're ready, give the word." Was all he said.

Somehow they all managed to get to Los Soledad without a fight breaking out, although Kevin had agreed only grudgingly to let Darkstar in his car. Gwen's hands were shaking, and he reached out across the console to take them, giving her a reassuring squeeze. She sighed to herself, and tried to get her nerves under control. It didn't help that Darkstar was in the car, but Ben was keeping a close eye on him, and Steph had stood right in front of him before they had left and said, "You so much as _touch_ Gwen and I will not rest until I've made a collage out of your internal organs and put it in the Tate Modern. Got that?"

Still, the Highbreed invasion was cause for concern too. But all the little things were now nagging at her, stupid things that normally she wouldn't worry about.

They arrived at the base, and she scurried away from Darkstar to stand in between Ian and Steph. She wiped her beak in her hair affectionately, cooing softly.

"Before we go in," Ben addressed the group. "Remember, no matter who we were before, now we're a team."

Gwen frowned at Kevin, who was giving Darkstar evils. "Kevin, I'm looking at you," Ben said sternly.

"What?" he demanded.

Ian made odd, ethereal noises at the back of his throat, and Steph started sniggering. "If this ends badly," she said slowly. "At least I'm with you if I go."

He gave her a level look. "I'm only leaving this life the same way I entered. Kicking and screaming. I'm not going down without a fight."

Gwen shuffled a few feet away to give them a moment alone as father and daughter, standing by Kevin's side.

"Is it too late to tell you I'm glad we found your space pod?" Steph asked, working to remain cheery. "Even if its brief, I'm glad I met you," Ian preened the feathered crest on top of her head. He cooed, the made more of those noises that Gwen couldn't understand.

She looked up at Kevin, and he met her eyes. His gloomy expression dropped for a moment. "We'll get through this," he said confidently.

"In we go," Cooper gulped. "Good luck Gwen!" he called to her as they prepared to advance.

"One word and I'll throw you over the horizon." She snapped at Kevin, who was going to make some smart-ass comment about Cooper's misplaced infatuation.

"I wasn't going to say anything." He said innocently.

---

Kevin's heart pounded painfully in his ears as Way Big collapsed and shrank back into Ben.

This was not good, not good at all…

The Highbreed ships floated above them like ominous black clouds, and he put his hands on Gwen's shoulders to let her know he was still there. She crossed her arms over her chest, laying her own hands over his. He felt her trembling. It all felt unreal; he was half expecting a huge neon sign saying 'GAME OVER' to appear and they would be able to redo the mission, like in all those games they played like Halo.

And then reality set in.

Gwen screamed after her cousin and ran to the crater, pushing everyone else out the way in her haste. Ian and Steph laboured into the air after her, and Kevin ran in her wake. He hoped to God that Ben was all right, not just because they were friends, but also because if he died, they lost the omnitrix, and the universe was screwed.

He was just coming round as Gwen reached him, and she helped him to his feet. "Now what?" Kevin asked the group at large, facing Ben. Julie ran out of nowhere and hugged him. Ship bounced around their ankles, having his own little panic attack.

"New plan!" he said, then frowned thoughtfully.

They all waited with baited breath for him to continue.

He gave them a pleading look. "Working on it!"

"That's reassuring,"

"Hey, how many times have I beaten you?" Ben demanded.

"Twice. Although I'm beginning to wonder how."

Kevin glowered at Darkstar. Actually, Gwen had kicked his butt twice, but no one said anything, and he kept himself in check. _He's only on the team until the world's either saved or destroyed,_ he kept reminding himself.

Ben's sudden ingenious plan was to storm the control tower and force the Highbreed to call off the invasion.

Wow. How exactly had Ben _ever_ beaten _anyone_, including Kevin, before?

"You got any better ideas?" Ben retorted.

No one did, naturally. So they split off into two groups. Kevin was afraid it would come down to this, but when they considered how to get to the control tower in the first place, and he saw the look on Gwen's face, he knew it was time to pull out the big guns. She looked terrified, much the same as Steph did, which in itself scared Kevin. But the determined air with which Gwen continued to hold herself, the way she kept pushing forward, no matter how dire their situation, gave Kevin some hope.

They got into his car, with Ian and Steph planning to fly in their slipstream.

"Oh," Steph said before they set off. "By the way, I sort of tweaked the thrusters up a couple of notches the other day. I don't know if the suspension will hold it,"

"I've got it," Kevin pushed the worriment away. "I did some tweaking myself."

"Good luck," Ian said before the doors were slammed shut.

"What did you do?" Ben asked in amazement when Kevin hit _the button_ (as Steph had dubbed it).

"Every time we found some alien I brought it back, and fitted it into the car," he grinned at his friend's amazed expression.

"Now I know why you're failing in school." Gwen muttered.

Kevin revved the engine. "You'll be thanking me when we save the world."

"If we don't get blown up first," Ben said ominously.

Kevin floored it. With the Avis protecting their flanks, they hurtled towards their goal, carving a path of destruction through the ranks of DNAliens. He jumped a couple of trucks, knowing he would make it, but Gwen still threw up a barrier around them. He gave her his best sarcastic glare. "We were gonna make it," he drawled.

"And did you think about defence?" she practically shouted back. "You left us completely uncovered! What if he had been shot down with a laser cannon?!"

Wow. She was more tense than he had originally thought.

"This is why we always wear our seat belts!" Ben through his penny in too.

"No one likes a back seat driver," Kevin snapped.

They made it in one piece to the control tower, and Steph landed alongside the car. "We going in?" she asked.

"We need to hold them off," Ben said, studying their surroundings.

"I was afraid you were gonna say that." Kevin sighed. He bent down and reached for the auto button.

Ian landed beside Steph and cooed. She phased back into her long limbed, human body, and watched as the Camaro barrelled after the DNAliens, a tightness about her face.

"Come on!" Ben shouted over the noise of the battle. "We can mourn later! We have to go!" they turned and ran to the stairs.

Steph paused just long enough to salute after the car before she devoted her concentration to running.

Kevin stopped for a moment to see if his car was still in view. He only noticed Gwen was there when he felt her hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Kevin!"

He sighed, turning to follow her. "I'm gonna miss that car…"

Ian shrieked at the top of his lungs as some alien's ran after them. "I'll hold these off and meet you at the top. Go!" he plunged down and tackled five of them to the ground at once.

Gwen complained about the stairs about half way up. "…Ever heard of the elevator?" she muttered.

Kevin found himself laughing, jittery at the thought that there were no handrails, it was a long way down, and gravity was not their friend. At the top, Ben and Steph were waiting for them. "We go in," Ben said determinately.

Kevin reached for the fibrous walls and absorbed them. The layer sat uncomfortably against his skin, and he cringed internally, but the stubborn looks on his friends faces made him punch through the doorway. He wasn't giving in, not yet; he'd always promised himself if he died, he'd do so on his feet, and he wasn't about to be beaten by this champion spit wad throwers!

Inside they had a manic battle; Ben and Steph transformed and barrelled in headfirst. Kevin kept close by Gwen, but they fought separate groups. It went all well and good until he lost his balance for just a moment, and the Highbreed commander flung him against the wall. Then he felt electricity surging around him, and he panicked.

Was he absorbing energy again?

But then it was removed, and then it came from another direction again.

Oh. He was being pounded into the controls. That was stupid of them.

He fought to keep consciousness, struggling against the Highbreed holding him. Then he heard her voice, clear as crystal, ringing in his ears as though she stood right next to him.

"Leave him alone!"

The commander said something, but there was a droning sound in Kevin's ears, and he was tossed aside like rubbish in a dump, unable to move. He heard the recognizable sound of Gwen's shield being broken, and he tried to get up again. Before he could gather his senses enough to remember how to sit up straight, someone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lifted him high into the air.

This was it. He was going to die. After everything that had ever happened to him, he would bow out of this life as a helpless bundle of nerves; paralysed unable to move a muscle to defend himself. So many things flashed through his mind; his mother, the one picture he had of him and his father, Crystal, Steph, Ben, all the other Plumber's kids, Gwen… He had been sitting on that feeling for so long now, he was almost certain he knew what it was.

He loved her.

He loved her so much it left a sharp pain in his heart.

And now he was going to die, and he'd never be able to tell her how he felt.

Kevin heard her voice, and he listened to it for what might be the last time, but something was wrong. There was an undercurrent to her tone, one he had never heard before.

"I said…" he tried to open his eyes to look at her. "Leave…him…ALONE!"

A bright light illuminated the room, and the commander dropped him. Kevin opened his eyes fully and was blinded; Gwen was engulfed in a strange, purple and white light. Something crunched loudly, and Kevin became aware that the commander was no longer looming over him. His senses returned, and he managed to look up and see straight.

It could have been Verdona standing there, but he knew it wasn't. It was all wrong; she wasn't an energy being, she was Gwen, just an ordinary girl who fretted over which shoes went with her new skirt and what Kevin and Steph got up to when they were on a sugar high.

He groaned, trying to get up. "Gwen…"

She turned to him, but made no move to come forward. He forced himself to his feet and staggered forth, grabbing her shoulders, wondering if he could shake it out of her.

He couldn't feel flesh and blood beneath his fingers, only seething energy that once he may have been tempted to take for himself. The thought didn't even cross his mind as he tried to shake her awake, but her body resisted his attempts.

"So much power…" she said, her voice somehow detached and expressionless, showing no emotion at all.

Kevin knew that feeling, and he tried to make her understand; nothing good had ever come of it. "Gwen listen to me, you've gotta shut it down!" He willed her to understand, to block it out, return back to the boring old world she had chosen over her Anodyte heritage in the first place.

"No," she looked at her hands. "I think I can defeat the Highbreed." She clenched her hands, watching the way the light reflected off her body. "All by myself."

"Your grandmother said it would take at least seventy-five years to master that power!" he said desperately. He never thought he would do this, but if he had to get down on his knees and beg her he would. He was terrified that she would leave him, go to Anodyne like Verdona had suggested – or worse still, be so over whelmed that she let it consume her.

"We don't have seventy-five years." She pointed out, her emotionless tone becoming icy.

Somehow, that felt more painful than when she yelled at him for doing something stupid or getting caught up in illegal deals. It was almost like, in this form, she had ceased to care or feel for anyone. Even if she didn't care about him, he would never stop caring about her.

"You'll lose your humanity," he told her, knowing what lay down the path he had walked along himself. He wouldn't let the same thing happen to her. "You won't remember Steph or Ben, or me…"

She became less rigid, and he found that now her body was more responsive to his touch. Kevin used a more gentle tone, trying to persuade her to descend back to her human body. Yelling and screaming and general hysteria wasn't going to work.

"Ben will find another way," he said softly. "You've got to come back to me Gwen." He fought back the tears. "I can't lose you, okay?"

It seemed to take an eternity, but the light imploded, receding back into a point somewhere inside her body; her hair became a vibrant red once again, her skin took on its fair complexion, and the cool feeling beneath his fingers became the soft fabric of his jumper. She shook her head to clear it, and looked up, eyes bright, alive, and Kevin's heart stuttered for a moment, unable to believe it.

A smile tugged at her lips, and he grinned at her like a fool, so glad she was all right.

"Okay," was all she said.

He was so relieved he wanted to dance and sing the praises of whatever deity was up there looking out for him. Kevin pulled her close to him, enveloping her in his arms, just glad that he could hold her close and know she was safe. Gwen wrapped her arms around him too, and he tucked the crown of her head beneath his chin, stroking her hair.

---

By the time Ian joined them in the control room, they had managed to wrap things up quite nicely on their own. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw Max Tennyson among the fray.

Max likewise seemed to stop and take a reality check. "Ian?" he said disbelievingly.

"Max!" he ran forward, phasing into his human form and gathering the old man up in a bear hug, laughing. "I can't believe it!"

"Where have you _been_?" Max pushed him out at arms length so he could look him up and down. "What on Earth happened to you?"

"Try off earth," Kevin muttered.

Ian laughed, reaching over to ruffle his hair. God, hearing those ominous tones took him back years and years, almost making him forget the danger they were all in. A plan was quickly formulated, and carried out. Ian left Max and the rookies to guard the control tower while he circled it from the outside; in the mean time Ben and the other's were going to go through the jump gate and tackle the problem at its source.

As they ran onto the green and black spaceship through the gaping whole in the wall, Ian grabbed Steph and gave her a hug, kissing her forehead, saying, "Take care out there. Your mother would kill me if I brought you home in a matchbox. I dare say Gerald would have my hide as well."

She laughed, running after Kevin. She spun on her heel, looked him in the eye, and saluted. "Adios! We'll be right back!"

Then the ship was gone, and Ian sighed to himself. This parenting malarkey was a lot harder than it looked; it went against everything to let his youngest daughter go running head first into unknown danger.

---

It was over.

Gwen couldn't believe it.

They had managed to survive, and now the Highbreed were leaving. Ben's crazy plan had worked, and as their grandfather searched for something in his pocket, she gave Ben another hug, pushing Julie out of the way for the millionth time. Then she pulled Julie forward and gave her a hug as well, laughing as she listened to Kevin, Steph and Manny singing 'We Are The Champions' at the tops of their lungs.

Ian was sitting on the wreckage of a truck, looking a little worse for wear, but satisfied with their work. Grandpa Max went over to him and handed over a tube, eyes glittering.

"Would you like to do the honours, trooper?"

"Why not?" Ian grinned, getting to his feet. He took careful aim, and hurled the tube at the jump gate.

They all watched in amazement as it just dissolved into nothingness. Kevin stared open mouthed, and Grandpa took pity on him, saying a name that Gwen didn't quite catch. Everything started to pass by in a daze; her body still thrummed with energy from before, and she was trying to settle herself down.

Grandpa Max got ready to leave with the rookies, rolling his eyes. "Looks like I'll need a bigger motor home."

Steph and Ian gave everyone a hug before they too departed for home. Julie left as well, so she wouldn't break her curfew, taking ship with her. Kevin turned to the scrap pile that had been his car, and Gwen felt a twinge for his loss.

"I'm going to the auto show." He announced in a resigned voice. "I need a new ride."

Gwen touched his arm briefly, and he turned to look at her. "I'll go with you," she offered.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You like cars?" he said in astonishment.

"Not really," she glanced down at the heap before looking back up at him, a sly glint in her eyes. "I like you though."

Kevin smirked, and offered her his arm. She took it, and they began the long trek home, leaving Ben to his devices. He was bound to work out how to get home eventually when he got the omnitrix working again. She didn't want a lift home with Julie, or Grandpa.

All Gwen wanted was to be with Kevin, her perpetual saviour.

She didn't know if they were going home at this hour, or straight to the auto show, or wherever. Just as long as it was just the two of them, she couldn't care less where they were headed.

---

**Lol and I was kidding about the stunt double xD in case you thought I was being serious. He's Kevin F***ing Levin! he'll die when the universe expires! (or when the world runs out of hotdogs, which ever comes first)**

**And going back to the chemistry; in the UK you go through secondary school from the ages of eleven/twelve to fifteen/sixteen and then you go onto the what we call college for two/three years, and then onto university. College and sixth form are the same thing, and I'm in sixth form; we take four subjects for AS for a year and then normally drop one for our A2 year. I took up Chemistry, and was the first to drop out, the first in a long line I might add. There have been so many tears over that subject that I have decided that it is the single most greatest evil in the history of man kind!!! My friend, I share your pain: have a hug! Be strong, if you get a relatively decent grade universities love it; it's a bitch to get even a C, you get that and it'll impress people ;) (you'll certainly impress me, my old class's top mark so far is a big fat F)**

**Next chapter I've been working on at the same time as this one (I ironed out the continuity snags as best I could xD) The most number of reviews I've got for one chapter is 19. I want to see 20 before I upload the next one! (I'm such a bitch :P)**

**Enjoy whatever it is you happen to be doing with your life! And stay tuned, ;)**

**xxx**


	29. Aftermath

**AN: Blargh half term WOOO!!! Sadly, I actually think I should get some work done this holiday, so the next chapter and the next story maybe slow in arriving. I'm also going to endeavour to spend more time on the nest story to make all the chapters of similar standards without oscillating like it has in this one. Plus, I got given a load of past papers to look at over the next few weeks, which ain't gonna be fun or a walk in the park, so if you don't hear from me, I'm swimming in a sea of paperwork ;)**

**_Aftermath_**

It was quite a walk back to town, since Kevin's car had been turned into scrap metal. Steph and Ian had flown home, and Ben was…somewhere. She should have been more concerned about her friends and family, but she was more concerned with the person beside her, holding her close to him. She couldn't keep the smile off her face as they made it to the park on the outskirts of town, and Kevin towed her towards it.

"Where are we going?" She asked. As long as it wasn't home yet, she didn't care if it was to the moon and back.

Kevin didn't answer until they came to a small lake with a bridge leading to an island in the middle. They walked over it to the small bench set there, but Gwen leant against the railing and looked across the water instead. She felt Kevin's arms wrap around her waist, and she leant against him, breathing in that familiar metallic scent of his, and the ever present odour of elbow grease and oil.

"It feels weird," he said softly, his cheek pressed against her hair.

"I know," she agreed. "We saved the entire universe." Everything felt so surreal.

"Not just that." It took a moment for him to pull his next words together, so Gwen watched the fireflies on the opposite bank float lazily through the air in random, meaningless patterns. "Once, I wouldn't have cared. I would have been glad to be rid of Ben…sometimes I still feel that way,"

She laughed with him, and he buried his face in her hair.

"But…" he trailed away.

Gwen twisted in his arms to look him full in the face. Kevin spun her round so that they were facing each other, her back pressed against the rail. His expression was so hard to read; it was a mixture of emotions so complex that she couldn't decipher what he was feeling. Then, it shifted as he raised a hand and gently swept her hair back from her face, and a melancholy light entered his eyes. "I've known all along how I feel." He murmured, almost to himself, but his eyes were fixed on hers; two black holes that drew her attention like nothing else. "But I was just kidding myself, pushing it to the back of my mind where I didn't have to face it. I started thinking after you forced me to the dance that, maybe there was a reason why I was still here, other than the fact that being with you guys kept me from getting into trouble. But every time I tried to act on it or tell you, something stopped me. Someone butted in, or I lost my nerve…" He shook his head, sighing.

"And then you blasted that Highbreed over the horizon, and I thought I was going to lose you." The thought saddened him.

Gwen raised her hands and cupped his face. He looked into her eyes again. "I'm still here," she said softly. "I won't go anywhere. I promise."

So many people had come and gone from his life, even she had disappeared and rematerialized after five years, but she wouldn't leave now. She remembered the power pulsing through her body, the over whelming feeling that she could do anything and everything; and then Kevin reached out to her, begged her to come home, back to the mundane world of flesh and blood where she belonged. And when the powered receded and she felt her earth bound body return to her, a memory had risen to the front of her mind: the reason why she had said no to Verdona in the first place.

Nothing she could do as an Anodyte could replace the void Kevin would leave in her life if she had let herself be consumed by her powers.

"I've heard that before. And I never thought I'd believe it, until I met you." he closed his eyes and leant his forehead against hers. "And I stopped caring how pathetic it sounds a long time ago. I care about you way too much, more than's good for either of us."

Gwen could feel her heart racing inside her chest. Was this it then? Were they declaring themselves?

"I'm not good for you. I'm your opposite in every way. I can never be the person you deserve to be with." He took a deep breath, like he was steadying himself for his next words. "But I've always loved you, and I always will. That's all I can say. It's all I can give you."

Gwen still held his face in her hands, and she stroked his cheek, shaking her head, unable to keep the smile from her lips. "That's all I want." She confessed. "All I need."

They stayed that way for a few moments, pressed against each other, their arms intertwined, hovering so tantalisingly close that Gwen wanted to scream. Then Kevin bridged the gap between them, and pressed his lips against hers.

She should have been thinking along the lines of _about bloody time_, but she didn't. Something clicked into place in her life, and Gwen knew that their young age would have no bearing on anything. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with Kevin, maybe one day get married, have his children, then grow old with him like in every soppy romantic film she had ever seen.

It was just like River had said: sometimes, something had to go wrong, or very nearly go wrong, before you realised what it was you truly wanted. Gwen had so very nearly lost everything that she held dear to her, but the person she loved more than anything else had brought her back to where she belonged.

Kevin's arms pulled her even closer to him; one hand found it's way to the small of her back, while the other twined itself in her hair. He pulled back for a moment, and looked into her eyes. Gwen pulled him towards her again, letting her fingers run through his hair. She had no idea how long they stayed there, kissing in the glow of fireflies and the moon. All she knew was that she never wanted this moment to end.

He drew back again, and she saw a single tear glide down his cheek. She gently wiped it away. "I love you," she told him.

Kevin's response was to kiss her over and over; her mouth, nose, cheeks, eyelids, throat, anywhere he could reach, repeating those three words again and again. It had to have been well past midnight by that point, but time ceased to mean anything to her; when they finally broke apart, and started to walk slowly back across the bridge, she felt cheated out of it.

Since it was _way_ too late for Gwen to go home without getting collared by her parents – near mass extinction of the universe or not – so Kevin took her back to his place instead. Everyone was fast asleep already, so they grabbed a snack and some soda before going to his room. Gwen sat on the end of his bed as he went to get a mattress and laid it on the floor along with a spare duvet and pillow. They took it in turns to shower, and Kevin dug out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for her to wear, throwing her own clothes into the washing machine. He stayed passively detached while her carried out these procedures, his expression remaining smoothly unreadable, which made her laugh. Naturally, his blushed, and went on to ignore her for the next few minutes before Gwen got up off the bed, snuck up behind him, and gave him a hug.

They ate and drank in silence before getting ready for bed.

Finally, he collapsed onto the mattress, exhausted by the day's events. Gwen crawled into the bed at first, but after an hour of lying there still wide awake, she got up and crept over to him, biting her lip.

"Kevin?" she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I can't sleep."

"Neither can I." He drawled.

Gwen fought back a giggle, and got down on the floor beside him. She wormed her way under the covers and cuddled up next to him. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed in content, resting his head in the crook of her neck. She stroked his cheek with one hand, the other running through his hair. It was really quite comfortable, lying here in each others arms; the memory of their first kiss was still swimming in her head, making her feel light headed.

He snored gently in her ear, and she felt a sudden wave of sleepiness over take her. She allowed it swallow her up, exhausted as she was from the day's events.

---

Kevin woke up when the sun peeked through the one, high window in his room, and checked the time.

7:56 am

He settled back down in Gwen's arms and dozed for a bit longer, listening to her breathe in and out in a regular pattern. He could feel the pulse in her throat against his nose, the warmth of her body, that fruity scent, the normal levels of energy; everything that told him she wasn't about to go Anodyte on his ass like she had on that Highbreed commander.

She was there, in flesh and blood, and in his arms, going nowhere.

Much later he awoke from his doze when she yawned widely and stretched her arms. Gwen tried to sit up, but he was pinning her down, so he shifted out of the way. "Sorry," she mumbled sleepily. "I didn't mean to wake you,"

He inclined his head to one side, smiling at her as she tried to wake up fully, still yawning. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and then looked up at him. Her expression became questioning in response to his gaze. Kevin laughed at her, and she scowled in return.

They started to get up, and Gwen went looking for a hairbrush. Kevin only owned a crappy comb, so she settled for that instead. He couldn't resist gathering her up in his arms and kissing her again, since his advance last night had been met with such enthusiasm, and that shirt looked way better on her than it did on him. She responded readily to him, even though he probably had morning breath and needed a shower, but he didn't care.

He had spent too long dithering like an idiot; there was a lot of time to catch up.

The front door slammed upstairs, and Gwen pulled back. "What's the time?" she asked breathlessly, dazed.

"Dunno," he kissed her again, drinking in her fragrance. He moved on to her throat, and her fingers tugged at his hair, so he took it she didn't mind at all. Then he heard her sharp in take of breath, and he froze.

Had he over stepped a boundary?

Kevin pulled back and looked her full in the face, worried he had upset her. Gwen was looking at something over his shoulder, which confused him for a moment.

"Oh my God!"

"What is it?" he was on the verge of freaking out when she pointed at the clock on the opposite wall.

"It's nearly midday! _I'm supposed to be at school_!"

Kevin slumped, his forehead pressed against the wall behind her back, sighing. "You _would_ worry about that…"

"My parents are going to kill me!" her voice shot through several octaves, then she pushed him out of her way, searching for her possessions.

Kevin calmly took her clothes from the dryer, handed them over, and pushed her into the bathroom before going upstairs to use the ground floor bathroom. Cain was around, somewhere, judging by the foreboding feeling and the stony silence from the living room, so he guessed Crystal was at school and his mother was at work. He grabbed some juice cartons and a couple of breakfast bars before he went back to his room.

Gwen was sorting her hair out frantically, muttering darkly to herself about truancy.

He rolled his eyes, downing the juice in one gulp. "Relax Gwen, so you miss one morning of school." He shrugged. What was the big deal?

She rounded on him and started ranting about the importance of not missing school, pointing out that _some_ people were aspiring beyond sitting beneath a car for the rest of their lives. He smiled, nodded condescendingly, and patted her head, getting crumbs in her hair. She glared at him, and stalked to pick up her phone.

"Oh God…" she threw the palm of her hand into her face. "My mom's having a panic attack."

"Do you want to call her?" Kevin asked.

He offered the house phone, but she declined, and called from her cell instead. She spent the next ten minutes assuring her mother that she was fine, they had been on a 'hugely important' mission, and she had slept in a bit late. Her mother apparently didn't ask where she was, placated with, "At a friend's house," and made her promise to be home tonight on time.

Gwen sighed deeply when she put the phone down.

"Do you need anything from home?" he asked.

"No, it's all in my locker."

"Okay," he reached automatically for his keys, before remembering what had happened the night before. "Damnit."

In the end, after a long argument, Kevin went with her on the bus, dropped her off at school, and promised to be there to pick her up at the end of the day. She made to leave, to go and face the principal for being so late, but he pulled her back.

"Gwen?"

She looked at him questioningly.

"What you said earlier, about being 'at a _friend's_ house…"

She smiled at him, which made him choke on his next words.

"I was wondering…about that,"

"About what, Kevin?" she said innocently.

"Just that, maybe…if you wanted…to be more…than just friends?" Somehow, he was still worried that she would say no.

Gwen's smile became brilliant, and she pulled him down to her level, kissing him only briefly. Her bright green eyes sparkled with laughter and mischief. "I'll think about it,"

And with that, she set off to the main school building, leaving Kevin dazed. After he recollected himself, he walked to Steph's house, thinking all the way.

Gwen was messing with him; he knew it, she knew it, and he felt stupid for doubting her.

At the Smith-Tanner household, Steph opened the front door. "Sup!" she grinned.

"I need a hand salvaging tech from my car." With Steph in such a happy mood, he would have to be blunt to keep her on a straight course.

They went out in her jeep back to the demolition site in Los Soledad, but they couldn't get hold of much. Most of it had been trashed beyond recognition.

"Shame," Steph mused, picking up a headlight and chucking it over her shoulder. "I was actually getting quite fond of that car."

Kevin was sitting on a rock, looking at the wreckage of his ride, feeling very forlorn. "I need a new car…"

"I sure as hell ain't gonna drive you round," Steph kicked a can across the ground, then stopped suddenly. "What the hell?" She walked over, picked the can up, and inspected it more closely. "'Canned Beef'? What the crap! Who left this here?"

Kevin really couldn't care less. "Can we go now?" They had saved as much as they could, but now he had other matters to attend to. "I have to get back to school,"

Steph stared at him in amazement. "You're _willingly_ going to school for like…" she checked her watch. "Half an hour by the time we get back?"

"Forty-five minutes if we go right now and speed," he jumped up and went to the jeep.

"For God's sake," Steph muttered darkly, getting into the driver's seat. "What's so great about high school, anyway? You had to kick me out the door to make me go before we took our GCSE options. I hated music and art cause we had crap teachers and I sucked unless it was mindless jamming on the one, shite electric guitar which had only three strings and they were all G."

"Cause I like my art lessons," Kevin snarled. He wanted to retrieve his sketchbook from the classroom and get his stuff from his locker. He lived five minutes away, and his mother would be home by then so he could pick Gwen up in her car. She wouldn't mind, she never did.

"Brave man," Steph said solemnly. "I found it was only fun to throw paint at walls and give them to the sixth former's who did psychology. Freud's studies were quite interesting if somewhat mental and messed up in general…"

Kevin had plugged himself into his ipod and wasn't listening. Instead, he listened to his rock music wondered if he would get caught sneaking around school trying to remain unseen.

Steph kicked him out on the sidewalk by his house, and rolled the window down to talk to him briefly after he had taken the tech from the trunk. "Almost forgot, to celebrate the fact we're all still alive, we're having a barbeque on Sunday. My mum wanted to invite your family over. It'll be us lot, you," she gestured with her hands as she spoke, "the Tennysons, the rookies, and Mel's friend is driving down from BC to spend some time with us. Got this job with the Plumber's and they're taking her psychotic skills for a test drive. Don't worry, she's as mad as they come anyway; she gets on with everyone."

"Sounds fun," he shrugged. Anything that Steph was involved in was bound to worth showing up for.

"Oh yeah, Uncle Max said he'd bring his world famous burger sauce. I suggest you get your mum to bring some extra food unless you want to starve." She pulled a face.

Ah, yes. Kevin had heard a lot of moans and groans from Ben, Gwen, and Steph about Max's cooking skills. "I'll remember that."

"See ya," she said before she pulled away onto the road.

Kevin went inside briefly to let his mother know he was still alive and that he was using her car momentarily. He also told her about Steph's invitation, so she bustled off to call Michelle, leaving Kevin able to grab what he needed before getting an apple and going back outside.

His mother's car was a rusty old four seater in a kind of non-descript beige; the kind of colour that just blends into the surroundings no matter where you parked it. Perfect, since Kevin didn't want to be noticed. He drove to the school, parked in the furthest corner, and made his way stealthily to the Art Block. In truth, it was devoted to 'the arts' of painting, acting, music making and stuff in general, but it was known as the A Block.

Ass Block, to the younger kids who had yet to learn the finer arts of subtlety. Right at the top was the drama department, whence Kevin had not been since forever. Below that, the music department, below that, Design Technology and Textiles, and on the ground floor was the Finer Arts and general crafty department. His class was supposed to be out and about the school playing fields today, studying flora and fauna, so Kevin snuck into the locked classroom (picking the lock with his finger), and grabbed his portfolio off the teacher's desk.

He went to his locker outside the canteen and rooted around for the manuscript music that he had left at the bottom of the pile of junk he kept there. He had tried his hand at writing a piece of music, on the paper, in _pen_. Tip-ex only took you so far, so he needed some more plain paper, like the stuff he had in here…somewhere…

"Kevin?" someone said disbelievingly.

He spun round, ready to punch them in the gut, but stopped in his tracks. Sally Newman, his portrait partner in Art, was giving him a very quizzical look. "Hi," he said shortly.

"What the crap?" she folded her arms across her chest, and raised a delicate eyebrow. "Where the hell were you earlier? I had to sit the lesson out cause of you,"

He rolled his eyes. She took her art _way_ to seriously. A bit like Gwen with her subjects as a whole.

"Busy." He went back to searching for paper.

"Like what, sleeping?" she demanded.

Sally always wore long skinny jeans that hung from her hips, various dark coloured tops that displayed a little too much midriff to be considered polite in an educational setting, those black boots that turned down at the top, and several studs and earrings in her ears. Kevin didn't know her too well, since he wasn't in school all that much, but she was friendly enough when she was seated happily in the corner by the window wear the teacher couldn't hear her talking to her friends.

"Yeah, actually. Shit happened last night, got home late." Well, shit happened first, and then he finally grew the balls to tell his crush he loved her, and life was suddenly radiantly good, but Sally didn't need to know the details.

"Whatever," she kicked the corner of her own locker a few doors down, and started loading and unloading books.

"So why are you here?" Kevin demanded to know. She never skipped Art if she could help it, or so he gathered from the stupidly large folder of work she produced each week that made everyone else feel inferior.

"Dancing exam." She said simply. "About a hours drive out of town. I missed the one last week at the community hall, so I have to take this one or wait another year." She pulled a face.

"Well, good luck with that," Kevin said distractedly, checking his watch. He had just enough time before Gwen's school closed for the day.

"Thanks," Sally said absentmindedly, tossing some dance shoes aside and shoving a stick of gum in her mouth.

Wow, he had actually been mostly civil to someone today. Gwen was such a bad influence on him; he would lose his reputation that had taken years to build at the rate.

More's the point, did he care?

In the grand scheme of the universe, little to nothing at all.

---

Gwen had got away with saying she had been feeling ill last night and slept in this morning, and the teachers gave her the benefit of the doubt. As a result, though, she was told to leave off karate for the week as a precaution. It could have been much worse, she supposed, so she attended the last two lessons of the day, which were math and history.

Last thing Friday afternoon was the worst possible time for history with the wizened old Mr Beddington. It wasn't just her who was paying no attention; everyone was either throwing paper aeroplanes, doodling in their textbooks, gossiping on the back row, doing the homework due in for the end of the lesson under the desks, texting their friends in other classes, or, as in Gwen's case, staring out the window and daydreaming.

The Spring break was looming over them all, just one more week and they would be free for just under a month. Gwen thought about what she would do with all the surplice time she would have on her hands. Besides fighting aliens, hanging out with Ben, Steph and Kevin seemed like the obvious thing. Or maybe most of it with Kevin. Or all of it, if he was willing to.

She smiled at the thought. Life was, as Steph was fond of putting it, good. Wonderfully good, as a matter of fact.

The bell went, and there was collective sigh of relief. The students rushed to leave their essays on his desk and there was a scrum at the door to escape. Outside, everyone was in high spirits for the weekend, and Gwen slide in between all the commotion, smiling to her friends and telling them where the hell she had been that morning, and getting the contents of her locker sorted.

When she reached the student parking lot, she stopped. Kevin had said he'd pick her up, but he had no car, unless he was taking the bus with her again. She couldn't see him waiting at the bus stop now, or anywhere else for that matter.

Gwen was about to call him when she heard a familiar, snarky voice behind her. Layla was on the prowl; exactly what Gwen didn't need.

"Truant…useless…" another cheerleading pep talk on how to rule the school like the bitch she was.

Gwen tried to duck out of sight, and ended up walking straight into someone's arms.

"Hey Gwen," he said cheerfully.

She flung her arms around his neck. "I was looking for you!"

He seemed surprised, and flattered by her enthusiasm. "I borrowed my mom's car. That's probably why," he hesitantly took her hand, and she laced her fingers through his.

"Lead the way,"

They set off for the very edge of the parking lot, where a dusty old faded beige car was sitting. It was no wonder that she hadn't seen Kevin before she had walked into him.

"So," he said once they were in the car, handing her a Mr Smoothie cup and smirking. "How do you feel about the auto show?"

Gwen took her sweet time answering, after a long draft of smoothie. She smiled at the flavour; strawberry and a number of other, more subtle flavours. Her favourite. She looked up to see him getting impatient, so she removed the straw and licked it clean before saying, "Don't mind."

He rolled his eyes and started the engine. Before he could pull out, she put out a hand to stop him. Kevin gave her a questioning look, hand poised to kill the engine.

"I have given some thought to your suggestion earlier today." She couldn't resist winding him up.

"Huh?"

_Clueless…_ Gwen leant over, placing the smoothie in the cup holder by her seat and kissed his cheek.

"I'd love to be your girlfriend."

---

**lol Sally shall be playing a vaguely important role in the not too distant future (i.e. next story) so I threw her in there. Note the dancing, that will be important ;P**

**I am so tired after chasing eight year olds round all day trying to get them to brush their hair, that I'm going to sleep now.**

**Don't forget, I look forward to your comments ;) keep them coming, I get a kick out of the jokes you leave behind I really do xD**

**xxx**


	30. The Barbeque

**AN: and here it is, the final chapter! MWHAHA! Aww I've had so much fun with this story! If you have an requests for the next story (I had a rough idea where I'm going, but any preferences on your part can be dove tailed in :D )**

**Enjoy! ;)**

_**The Barbeque **_

It was hectic setting up for the barbeque. Kevin had never really thought about the effort that went into such an event, but Ian, Gerald, Tom, Dylan, Max and Steph were all pouring over the coals to make sure each one reached the optimum temperature. Well, in all honesty Gerald and Tom were doing the hackwork; Dylan was larking about with the lighter, Max was preparing his _special_ burgers, and Ian was teaching Steph how to create fire.

Another innate ability of hers which none of them had known about. He quite envied Steph when she bounced over, snapped her fingers dramatically, and a flame burst into life on her thumb. "That looks cool," she laughed, tossing the flame from one hand to another like a tennis ball.

"Show off," Kevin muttered to himself.

Steph got collared by her mother for playing around with fire, even though both father _and_ stepfather had said she could. Ben and Gwen had yet to arrive, so Kevin wondered after Steph as she tried and failed to help out.

"Go play with the kids," Tom pushed them away for the fifth time, and Steph stalked away, snarling to herself.

Kevin followed her, sniggering. She punched him in the gut and went to sulk in the kitchen. His mother was talking to Michelle in the front room, and Crystal was running around with Erin and Ella. No one was quite sure where Kev was hiding at that moment, but Steph was certain he would turn up for the food.

"It's boring without the others!" she whined, getting some water from the filter.

Kevin shrugged dramatically, and grabbed a bowl of strawberries from the counter. "You said we had to do the desserts," he reminded her.

"Oh yeah!" Steph slapped her forehead. "I forgot about that,"

They ended up wrestling each other on the floor over melting the chocolate, snarling like wild animals over a carcass, and in the end Ian and Gerald had to break them up. They stood there, glowering at each other, chocolate strewn all over the room. "Steph," Gerald said in a bored voice. "Your mother isn't going to appreciate this."

"She started it!" Kevin accused.

"So did not! I told you to get the sugar then you wrestled the chocolate out of my hands and threw me on the floor!" she spat.

They started arguing again, fighting against the adults holding them, when he noticed Gerald and Ian nod to each other. Next thing he knew his skull crashed into Steph's and they fell to the floor again, groaning. Steph used a few words that earned her a cuff round the head. After that, they weren't left on their own; Ian watched them dip strawberries into chocolate and mix up a fruit salad like a hawk.

"This is all your fault," Steph muttered.

"Is not," he retorted.

"Come on, people," Ian said calmly. "Those peaches won't slice themselves,"

"It would be funny if they did," Steph laughed, suddenly brightening up.

They spent twenty minutes carving faces into fruit and making them talk. It was an epic battle of the bruit bowl in which Steph's apple and Kevin's orange were thrashed by Ian's phoenix carved from a peach using his clasp knife.

The skirmish ended when Steph dropped her apple in amazement. "How the bloody hell did you do that?"

Kevin went back to actually slicing fruit while Steph was given a crash course in craving produce. Ben arrived and joined the fray; it was only a matter of time before they were in the back garden throwing food at each other. Steph bounced by them at the barbeque, rubbing orange peel into their hair.

They exchanged a look, and Ben grabbed a pot of raspberries. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked innocently.

Kevin scooped up the can of whipped cream. "Read my mind,"

"_GET HER!_" they spun round and dived at her.

Steph screamed, turned on her heel, and ran away, still screaming. They ended up pinning her against a tree, and rubbing their weapons into her hair, then ran away laughing manically as she phased into her Avis form and piled drived them into the ground. Ben escaped, after pushing Kevin over (and since Kevin had tried to do the same to Ben, he didn't really hold it against him) and he absorbed a conveniently placed rock to stop her from peck his brains out.

"Bastard!" she shrieked in his ear.

Suddenly the weight was lifted, and Kevin looked up. Steph was fighting against a large green blob with the omnitrix insignia floating at the centre. "_Run Kevin, run!_" it called. He was gone like the wind before Steph could kick away free and zoom after him.

They continued scraping in this manner until Gwen's family arrived, and she ended in enveloped in a raspberry and cream hug. She pushed them all away, laughing, and Ian got the hose out and sprayed them with water to get the muck off. Max then left to pick up the rookies, and the real fun started.

Kevin, Ben and Steph mauled Manny and Pierce when they started a tug of war game over the tablecloth. Gwen sat with Helen, Julie and Mel on the weathered bench against the back of the house, either looking mildly amused or exasperated. Kevin was too busy trying to dodge Steph's flailing wings to pay too much attention to anything else, but when the food became available from the barbeque, he sidled over to stand beside Gwen.

No one noticed, since Steph and Manny started arguing loudly and Ben tried to peel them apart. When they started to fight over where to sit, Steph grabbed the best patch of grass by the sizable pond and motioned for the other four to follow. They sat in a semi-circle around the banks of the pond, munching on Michelle's homemade edible burgers (everyone having declined Max's own unique brand), occasionally chucking breadcrumbs at each other.

They were far enough away so that the adults weren't keeping an eye on them, so Kevin put an arm around Gwen, and she leant against him. Ben and Julie gave them a superiorly knowing look, and Steph commented on naught but the fact that there was a cloud that looked like Davy Jones from _Pirates of The Caribbean_. They talked about random things, laughed at all the things they had done together against the DNAliens.

"You got that four hundred dollar speeding ticket," Gwen said with narrowed eyes.

Steph and Ben laughed. "Not many people can say that," he pointed out when Steph choked on her burger.

"And then Kevin broke into your house," Steph smirked when her lungs started working again.

"And my back door," He glared at Kevin. "And left me to explain it to my mom!"

Kevin shrugged. "Meh,"

"And you guys steel my catch phrases," Steph fumed.

"Oh, remember that last movie night with the Muppet Crhistmas Carol?" Ben forgot his irritation in a moment, and they launched into another session on reminiscing.

Julie recalled the time she had tried to get Ben to learn tennis, and Steph interjected, reminding them all how he had taken a racket to the face and nearly broken his nose. Ben gave his girlfriend a pleading look, and she said innocently, "I said I was sorry."

After that round of laughter had died down, the imitating of the accents began.

"Then there was the time," Steph affected a deep southern accent, making them laugh all over again. "The time when you two noobs got grounded then muggings here got stuck with _that thing_ on a mission." By the end of her sentence, she had slipped back into her British accent.

"You didn't have to come with me!" Kevin argued back.

"Well, I sort of promised that I wouldn't let you out of my sight, cause Gwen had a spack attack thinking you would end up with your head being forcibly removed from your body and your innards strewn across the state." Steph was always so matter of fact, Kevin found it irritating at times; but still, her concern for him was touching. He looked down at her, but she was facing the opposite direction, watching Crystal and the twins running around by the barbeque.

Mel was sitting on a bench with Tom, when she got up for no readily apparent reason and walked around the side of the house. Steph's head snapped up, and without a word she stood and ran after her sister.

"Hey! Steph!" Ben yelled after her. They all exchanged looks. "What the hell?"

"Let's go see," Kevin said, standing up.

They were joined by Tom as they followed in Steph's wake, and tensed when they heard someone scream. That was it! There went the calm, peacefulness after the major battle, now something else was trying to kill them! Kevin needn't have got so worked up in the end.

Parked on the grass beside Steph's jeep was an old, rusty, dark blue truck, with someone half out the cab, being mobbed by Steph.

"Oh my God!" she gushed. "I missed you so much!"

"Steph, honey," the woman choked. "I can't breathe!"

She let go, and the woman slid out of the drivers seat, grinning at Tom and Mel. "Can I have a hug?" she threw her arms wide, and gave them a group hug, laughing. When Mel stood back, Kevin got a better view of her.

She was tall, quite slender and long in the legs. Her hair was long, thick and curly, darkish at the roots but every shade of blonde down to the tips. It was held back from her face by an aqua coloured bandana, a thick fringe falling across her eyes before she swept it back with a quick movement of her hand. Her eyes were blue or grey, hard to tell from this distance. She had obviously been travelling; she wore jeans that had been rolled up at the bottom, and a black tank top under a thin, long sleeved chequered blue and white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Her shoes were scruffy faded blue sneakers that looked more washed out grey than anything else.

The most noticeable thing about her outfit was the one sweatband on her right hand, and the many bracelets made from string on her left wrist. She also had a necklace made from wooden beads on a leather thong with a little figurine in the middle of some sort of animal.

Tom was chatting to her, and Mel smiled serenely, when Steph started bouncing impatiently on the spot. "Guys!" she whined.

"Yes, yes," the woman said, turning to her.

Steph clearly her throat dramatically, and said, "People, this is _Dr_ River Collins,"

River rolled her eyes at the formality. "Just River."

"And this is Gwen, Ben, Julie, and Kevin," she waved a hand vaguely.

"Pleased to meet you," River said sincerely, shaking their hands. Kevin was surprised when she gave Gwen a hug. "Nice to finally meet you in person," she laughed.

"You're the psycho person?" Ben asked a bit uncouthly, earning him a dig in the ribs form all sides.

But River was unphased. "Yeah, that's me," she said vaguely before turning to Mel. "Sorry, but I'm _starving_! I had a subway at six last night, and I could a whole cow at this rate!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Steph sang, bouncing back to the garden to announce her arrival.

"Struth…" River muttered, grabbing a rucksack from the truck bed. "Please tell me you have baked potatoes!" she begged Tom.

"A whole pile. Or two." He laughed.

"_Ex_cellent!" she clapped her hands together with glee. "And your dad's cheese. I have been trying to find homemade cheese all over the island and nothing is as good as his."

"We spoiled you," Tom said knowingly.

In the garden, River was mobbed by everyone from the Smith-Tanner family again before she could get anything to eat. Max was the first to welcome her to Bellwood, as she shovelled down several mouthfuls of his burgers, beyond caring what the food tasted like. It was rather ungraceful to watch, and made everyone laugh at her, but when she wiped the mayo from her chin on a tissue and chucked it in the bin bag, she spun round, clapping her hands together with a grin and said, "I have eaten," she gave them the thumbs up. "Life is good."

"I have an announcement!" Max called the rookies to order.

Kevin, Gwen, Julie and Ben crammed themselves onto the bench, and Steph perched on the arm while the others sat on the floor, waiting for this 'announcement'. River tried to sneak away, but Max pulled her up front, and she shrugged.

"Everyone, This is Dr Collins," he began.

"Sup, people?" she waved at them.

"She just got involved with the Plumbers, and will be working with us for the next few months."

"Doing what?" Manny blurted out.

"Well," Max began, but River cut across him.

"Do you want me to?" she pointed at the congregation.

"By all means," he stood back, and let her do the talking.

"Okay! Hi everyone, I'm River, and I'll basically be your guidance counsellor until either I get called back up to Canada or you get sick to death of me, which ever comes first. I've worked with teenagers before, on various different studies, so I've got a mass of paper work to do when I get unpacked. I've got a couple of degrees in criminal psychology, which basically means stuff all, in the grand scheme of things. I've been assigned down here cause this is where 'all the action' is happening," she used her hands to emphasise the quotation marks. "So, that's all the useless junk that means nothing. You'll be seeing me around, and just so you know, if you have any problems, anything at all, you can come and find me. I don't care if you're feeling suicidal or if it's something small and insignificant like feeling fat." There were a few titters, and she held her hands out in defence, smiling. "You're all of an age where your bodies are physically maturing but your mind's aren't, which means you'll be feeling on top of the world one moment, and then crap the next. I know, trust me. I was there only a few years ago myself, so I know how you feel. And with all this interstellar business going on, that just makes it worse."

She looked Max again. "I think that's all I have to say on this matter."

Steph coughed loudly.

"And, by the way, if anyone gets the urge to punch Steph _really_ hard in the gut, don't be ashamed. I get that feeling a lot too. She's tough enough and ugly enough to survive a couple of blows to the stomach." River gave her hard stare, and Steph seemed to melt against the wall, making them all laugh.

Max reeled off a list of other things they needed to be aware of, which Kevin tuned out, too busy holding Gwen's hand behind their backs and watching the way her eyes kept darting between him and her grandfather to notice much else.

Kevin did notice when River grabbed another burger. She somehow managed to down it almost in one go like a hamster. Manny noticed too, and laughed.

"Manny," Max scolded.

"No," River came over again. "It's fine. They can laugh. I have no pride. Plus," she turned to Manny, "I'd like to see you drive across a continent on minimal rations and sleep. I haven't eaten since yesterday evening!"

"Wimp!" Dylan yelled at her.

"And also up yours!" she called over her shoulder. "Git face," she muttered, taking another burger.

They dispersed again, and Julie's parents took her home, much to Ben and Gwen's disappointment. She promised to see them again soon before she got in the car and drove off. Steph sprayed cream in Ben's dejected face five minutes later, and they ended up falling into the pond in the resulting fight.

When Ian broke it up and demanded to know why she had started that particular fight, all she said was, "Well, at least he's smiling again." As though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

After Kevin had laughed at them, he went to find Gwen. She was sitting cross-legged next to River, who had a baked potato in her hands, a little apart from the general fray

"It's a broad term," she was saying between mouthfuls. "I'm not even doing anything useful. I'm sure you guys don't need an agony aunt."

Kevin sat down and pulled Gwen onto his lap.

"Sorry," River held her hand out again. "It's nice to finally meet you, Kevin,"

He was stunned she knew who he was. Then again, he remembered that she worked on studies with juvenile delinquents, and was now with the Plumbers. She must have heard of him.

"It's okay," she said reassuringly. "Steph rants a lot about you on skype."

That would explain a lot.

"So," he shook her hand again. "What are you actually doing round here again?"

"Stuff all that's of any use. I get 'non-contact time' to do paper work on case studies, write out some assessment sheets on each of you just before I go back home, and sit around waiting for an emotional disaster to happen." She looked bored by the thought. Close to, her eyes looked like a mix of blue grey, but when the sun shone against them at a certain angle, they became blue. She was a fascinating character to watch, and just as fascinating to talk to.

"Steph said you do soul seeking," he began.

She rolled her eyes, scoffing down her potato. "Soul Reading. And she tends to exaggerate where I'm concerned. I take most things in stride, so she likes to piss me off about it."

"I heard," Kevin said, remembering what Steph had ranted about before.

"Meh," River shrugged.

Steph herself bounded over. "C'mon! Let's play Frisbee!"

"Can't talk," her accent slid suddenly into full-blown Canadian. "Eating,"

"Bitch," Steph snarled, stalking away.

"I require sustenance." River rambled on at her back. "Is that so wrong, Stephenie?" She ignored her, and went to go annoy Ben. "To each her own," River shrugged.

---

Ian had never met River before, since he had been captured long before she and Mel had become friends, and when his daughter peeled her away from the youngsters and brought her over, he took to her straight away.

She had the calm maturity and experience of the world beyond her young years, but there was a silly side that showed when she snuck up on Steph and poked her in the ribs, making her shriek and jump a mile high. River then slunk off to hide from her until she had calmed down. Then she consented to play Frisbee when Steph begged and whined.

It felt good to be back in a normal setting again; when the fuss had died down he lounged in a deck chair, dozing until people began to drift off home. He had been sitting on something for a while, since he had discovered his daughter was friends with the son of his best friend, and he had come to a decision.

He tapped Gerald on the shoulder, saying, "I'll be back in a moment,"

Gerald nodded; preoccupied with the latest fight Dylan and Steph had got themselves into.

Ian went inside to the room he had been staying in for the last couple of weeks, and gabbed his pack. He hoped to catch Kevin before he left.

Seeing Cari again after all these years was…interesting. She had looked shocked, but quickly regained her composure enough to ask how he was. She didn't talk about Devin, so Ian didn't say anything on the subject either. Now he was about to broach that subject with Kevin.

Back in the garden, everything was being packed up, and the kids were still at each other's throats. This time, Ben and Steph were mauling each other, and Gwen was trying and failing to pull them apart. Kevin sat by, laughing at them, and since Cari was out of earshot, this was as good a time as any.

"Kevin," he called.

The boy looked up, startled.

"Can I have a word?"

"Sure," he got to his feet warily, and gave him a cautious look.

Ian laughed. "I won't bite. I just want to talk for a moment." He motioned for Kevin to follow, and they made their way to the end of the garden, where all that separated them from the forest beyond was a poxy little wooden fence that might fall down at any moment. "I don't know how much you know about your father," he began.

Kevin shrugged, but his eyes lit up with curiosity.

"As Steph may or may not have told you, we met at a training camp. He was a good man, and a good friend. He went missing on a mission, and…" Ian reached into his pack, trying to find his last mementos of Devin. "They found this." He held up the battered, cracked, broken badge. "I don't know why they gave it to me. I meant to bring it back to Earth to your mother, but I was drafted, and there was no time. I hung onto it all these years, thinking that if I ever escaped, I'd bring it back."

Kevin started at it with wide eyes, a hand automatically raised to take it. Ian held his palm out, and he took it tentatively, like it might disappear.

"I think you should have it. It's been busted beyond repair, but still…"

Kevin was looking at it like a devout Christian would at the Holy Grail.

"And I have these as well," Ian delved into his pack again. He found the three holodiscs they had taken at camp, and moth-eaten sketchpad that Devin had left under his mattress. "Those are just us messing around. _This_," he held the book. "_This_, is the reason why I used to throw random objects at him. Never put his bloody pencil down when he could help it. Steph tells me you're quite the artist yourself,"

Kevin took them, looking even more awed than he had before. He had not said anything for a while now, which was understandable. He tried to flick through the pages, but they stuck together.

"I'm sorry about that," Ian apologised. "On the battle field you don't have much time to worry about spilled drinks canisters, and, well…" he smiled sheepishly. "I didn't realise for a long time afterwards. But, I know most of them are still visible."

Kevin looked up at him fully for the first time, mouth open in a struggle to find words. "Thanks," was all he managed.

"You're very welcome." Ian smiled at him. "It's unfair for you to have so little of his. You can gain more from these than I can; I'll always remember our first training exercise," he mused.

"What happened?" Kevin asked eagerly.

The memory made Ian laugh aloud. "We had to 'infiltrate' an 'enemy barracks' and our side was called to stop because we lost. Dev just kept on going, yelling 'Run anyway!' and took down the guards on the other side all by himself. We managed to lose by default and win at the same time. He never gave up, even when it was a lost cause. He was the best soldier I ever saw, and the best friend I ever had."

Kevin went quiet again, still searching for words, and Ian put an arm around his shoulders in a one armed hug. "I'm going back to Re'ath tomorrow. I wanted to give this to you before I left."

"Thanks, really…You have no idea."

Ian nodded, knowing just what he meant.

"Come on, I'm sure Michelle could do with a hand cleaning up,"

They went back to the barbeque sight, to find everything packed away neatly and tidily. Max gave them a stern look. "And where did you spring from?"

"Anything need clearing away?" Ian asked.

"We just finished." Max said suspiciously.

"Oh, is it? Too bad," Ian went to the back door. When Max turned his back, he winked at Kevin, and went inside.

"Skivers." Steph muttered darkly from the kitchen sink.

Ian gave her a hug, crushing her lungs momentarily, before going to recheck his things for tomorrow. "By the way," he called to her after she had finished cursing him in every language she knew. "You still want to come visit Re'ath some time?"

"No, I want to go to the centre of the Earth instead. What do _you_ think?"

"I'll take that as a definite maybe." He called back.

"You do that," she muttered.

---

_The screen was blank, before it flickers into life, and a man with a Tennessee began talking_

"_October 1__st__, Lasia'austra base training camp._

"_Okay, so this is my bed, and my pillow. And my blanket-"_

_A man's head appeared from above, grinning in a halo of ginger hair. "Hello!" he said in a Scottish accent._

"_-My bunk buddy," the voice continued._

"_Hey, this room 208?" someone asked off to one side._

_The view spun round so the man in the doorway could be seen._

"_Yeah, come on in!" said the man in the top bunk. "I'm Tyler Dunwoody,"_

"_Ian, Ian Smith." Said the other man, dumping his pack on the other bunk bed._

"_That sounds cheesy, if you don't mind my saying so," said the first voice._

_The man shrugged, and began unpacking. The one on the top bunk said, "Be back in a few, gotta go make a phone call." He left._

"_So, what's your name?" asked Ian._

_The disc was left on the end of the bed, and a tall man with dark hair and fair skin came into view. "Devin Levin."_

_Ian laughed. "Is that a joke?"_

"_Nope," he said cheerfully. "So, what's you story?"_

_Ian shrugged. "Been drafted to the camp. You?"_

"_Same here."_

"_Been with the Plumbers before?"_

"_Couple of times. Worked with Max Tennyson,"_

"_Really? He's my wife's godfather!"_

"_No way! Seriously? Small world,"_

_They sat down on the edge of the spare bunk. "So," Ian said after a pause. "You got anyone back at home?"_

"_Only the most beautiful girl in the galaxy," Devin bragged, producing a picture from his pocket and showing Ian._

"_Wow, she's a real looker," Ian commented._

"_Yeah. I'm hoping to go home before Christmas. She's expecting a baby," he looked and sounded pleased as punch._

"_Dude, congrats," Ian went for his own bag, producing his own photo. "This is my wife, and our two girls."_

"_Sweet," Devin took it for closer inspection. "How old are they?"_

"_Melanie's seven, eight in December, and Stephanie's a couple of months." Ian smiled at the photo. "They're beautiful,"_

"_What's it like being a dad?" Devin asked, suddenly terrified._

_Ian laughed at his expression. "Fun. When the baby isn't screaming. Melanie was quite mellow, but Stephanie's a real handful at the moment. She started teething just before I left."_

"_Doesn't that happen when they're six months?"_

"_I'm Avis, and we teeth much earlier. I swear, poor girl's going to be like me when she's older."_

"_I don't care whatever it is, as long as it's a healthy baby, either boy or girl is fine."_

_Tyler came into the room again. "Hey, we have a briefing in the mess hall,"_

…

_Loud explosions from overhead echoed around the scene of the mock battle, and a number of soldiers in camo gear lay on the ground, staring at the sky in a bored manner, waiting to be carried off as casualties._

_Ian, Devin, Tyler, and another man were still on their feet, running at the enemy barracks._

_A man form the sidelines shouted, "Over! Desist. You've lost."_

_Ian and the other two turned on their heels, looking dejected, but Devin bowled over to the trenches, yelling. "Keep running! We can take them!"_

"_Dev, it's over!" Tyler shouted._

"_We failed epically, come back!" Ian bellowed after him._

"_What the hell?" asked the fourth unknown man._

_They ran after him, against orders from the officer, just to see what Devin was doing. He had left a trail of stunned bodies in his wake, and came out of the small shed that served as a barracks, bearing aloft the captured flag. "Found it!" he said cheerfully, handing it to Ian. "Bastards hid it in that cabinet. Had to bust through the metal to get it."_

"_And skin your knuckles in the process." Ian said bluntly, looking at his friend's bloodied hands. "You're such an idiot, Dev."_

"_Well, we got the flag, what more do you want?"_

_Ian stuffed the flag in his face, trying to make him gag on it. "You're the most annoying person I have ever met!"_

"_Break it up, Smith, Levin!"_

"_He started it!" they shouted, pointing at each other. "Did not!"_

"_Shut up!" Tyler shook them. "You're acting like kids!"_

"_This isn't Girl Scout Camp, people!" The officer shouted at them._

_Ian and Devin glared at each other before turning away and stalking off in different directions. "Bastard," they muttered under their breaths._

"_For Christ's sake…" someone groaned._

…

_A long line of men were standing in a row against a wall, arms outstretched above their heads, looking down at the floor. Devin and Ian were side-by-side, recognisable by the marks on the backs of their jackets._

_Devin raised his head to look to one side briefly. He quickly looked down again before someone in a balaclava struck him round the head. "Stay put!" he yelled, and the majority of the men flinched at the sound._

_Ian swore under his breath when the man had gone. "This is the crappest training session ever. They wiped the floor with us…"_

"_Hey, Ian," Devin murmured._

"_What now? Another plan that involves throwing metal objects at our superiors?" Ian said sarcastically._

"_No, the guard's gone out for a fag," they were speaking barely above a whisper. "Is it clear the other side?"_

_Ian looked down the other end of the room. "All clear."_

_They started to shift at a painfully slow pace away from the other men, who were tuning out all else around them. When Ian and Devin were close enough to the door, they checked one last time, before legging it. They had made it to the hallway by the entrance before the alarms went off._

"_Go, go, go!" Devin shouted, and they ran full tilt for the scrub outside, jumping over the fence and bolting through the security gates. They ran across a field full of mock bombshells, into a forest, and dived into a natural fissure beneath a tree and scrunched themselves up against the roots, breathing heavily._

_Devin laughed wildly. "We made it…I can't believe it…we _actually_…got away!"_

"_If…" Ian wheezed. "I ever…get assigned on a…high risk…mission…like this but…for real…I…want you on the team…too…"_

_Devin elbowed him in the gut, grinning. "I told you I had a cunning plan."_

"_Jesus Christ, Dev…you didn't know he would go out for a smoke." They regained their breath somewhat._

"_No," he agreed, "but we got lucky. When do you think they'll find us?"_

"_Soon, they had the sniffer dogs with them today."_

"_I don't remember any dogs," Devin said thoughtfully._

"_Except that cook in tent 0-90, she's a right-"_

_Devin tried to sock his friend in the eye. "And you blame me for being uncouth."_

"_Whatever. Let's sit this out"/"To hell with it, let's get back to camp!" Ian muttered in the sudden darkness._

_They cautiously got out of their hidyhole, and made their way back to the campgrounds. The scene changed from a twilit forest to an open field surrounded by a fence. Both men climbed over the fence, ignoring the barbed wire, and dropping down the other side. "I hope we get extra shower tokens for this," Ian muttered darkly._

_A siren went off, and someone not too far away yelled, "There they are! Those are the two runners, get them!"_

_Ian and Devin swore in unison and ran for it. They made it to the entrance of the mess hall before they were tackled to the ground by men in balaclavas, still fighting to get up and down the hallway to the dorm rooms._

"_So," said a man, removing his mask to look at the two men on the floor, the dark haired one of which was still struggling to get up. "You are the two men that got away from the detaining exercise."_

_They said nothing._

"_Well done. That takes a lot of guts and initiative to take off like that. Still, it was going against orders."_

"_It was Levin's fault," Ian piped up._

"_Sell me down the river then, that's just fine," Devin muttered._

"_Let them up," the officer said._

_Ian and Devin got to their feet, dusting themselves down and standing to attention._

"_Snipes," a masked man handed him a pouch, from which he produced six small plastic coins and a slip of paper. "Here you go men, now report to my officer tomorrow at 0900 hours. Dismissed." He pressed the items into their hands and they saluted before he left, taking the other men with him._

"_Dude!" Devin crowed in triumph. "Triple shower tokens!"_

"_Look," Ian was practically bouncing with happiness. "We get bacon sandwiches fro breakfast – for the next week!"_

"_SCORE!" they pumped their fists into the air._

_Ian put an arm around Devin's shoulders and they danced towards the dorms. "This is the good life!"_

_Ian laughed. "Remind me to follow you next time you have an idea,"_

…

_Ian sat on a chair, facing the holodisc, arm in a sling, expression sarcastic. "Note to self: the next time Devin has a bright idea, shoot him."_

"_Here you go," Devin appeared over his shoulder and dropped a packaged on his head._

"_What now? Since you got my arm broken." Ian said sullenly._

"_Well, I thought if I gave you my bacon sandwich ration it would make you feel better,"_

_Ian dropped the sandwich. "What do you want?"_

"_I kinda got covered in blood when I broke Snipes' nose last martial arts session. Can I borrow a shower token?" _

"_Go stick your head in a pig, Dev."_

"_Okay, I'll see if I can make one."_

"_Out of what, bits of shoelace, a paper clip, a slightly used tissue, and a broken clay pot?"_

"_Yup."_

"_I wanna go home," Ian whined._

_/"There we go!" Devin said, holding the token aloft._

"_I refuse to believe that," Tyler said._

"_You're like Mcguiver only more cool," said the fourth roommate._

_Devin laughed, and left the room. Ian went to rummage through his belongings. "Dev! Get your arse back in here now and give me my token!"_

"_Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of the shower!" he called back._

"_I said now! Before I gut you like a fish!"_

"_Calm down, Ian," Tyler began._

_Ian pushed past him, wielding a clasp knife in his left hand. "You bastard!"_

---

**lol just added this on the end in case anyone wanted to know what was on the discs xD I'll update you with the sketchbook if you like in the next book.**

**But for now, this is at an end.**

**I want to thank you all individually for your support through out this story; you've always been supportive and constructive with your criticisms, and I will endeavour to make the sequel to this even better! (when I get round to it :P )**

**Until the next update, may your swords (and laser blasters) remain shiny ;)**

**Everyone take a virtual hug, a smoothie, a cookie, and a HUGE portion of fish and chips, you deserve it! :D**

**xxx**


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